Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich
Hardcover, 308 Pages
2009, St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 0312383282
Series: Book 15 of Stephanie Plum
Synopsis
Unbuckle you belt and pull up a chair. It’s the spiciest, sauciest, most rib-sticking Plum yet…
RECIPE FOR DISASTER
Celebrity chef Stanley Chipotle comes to Trenton to participate in a barbecue cook-off and loses his head—literally.
THROW IN SOME SPICE
Bail bonds office worker Lula is witness to the crime, and the only one she’ll talk to is Trenton cop Joe Morelli.
PUMP UP THE HEAT
The reward for capturing Chipotle’s killers: One million dollars.
STIR THE POT
Lula recruits bounty hunter Stephanie Plum to help her find the killers and collect the moolah.
ADD A SECRET INGREDIENT
Stephanie’s Grandma Mazure. Enough said.
BRING TO A BOIL
Stephanie’s working overtime tracking felons for the bonds office at night and snooping for security expert Carlos Manoso, aka Ranger, during the day. Can she hunt down two killers, a traitor, and five skips, keep her grandmother out of the sauce, and solve Ranger’s problems and not jump his bones?
WARNING
Habanero hot. So good you’ll want seconds.
Review
Coming after the fantastically fun Fearless Fourteen, Finger Lickin' Fifteen keeps the craziness going. Lula witnesses a murder, causing her to move in with Stephanie. Causing the currently Morelli-less Stephanie to move in with Ranger. Lula's in a BBQ sauce competition, even though she can't cook. Ranger's security company is breached, causing him to bring in Stephanie as a "consultant." And Joyce Barnhardt has been spending an awful lot of time at Morelli's house.
The mystery of who killed the famous chef is a little lacking, but the focus of the book is more on Lula's hiding from them rather than searching for them. The main thing keeping this book from perfection is the Stephanie/Ranger situation. Since Stephanie and Morelli are off-again, I expected a little more heat in the Ranger department. The possibility was there, but nothing much came of it. As per usual. I'm firmly a Ranger girl, but at this point (fifteen books into the series) I'd just be happy if Stephanie would pick anyone and stick with them. A love triangle is only sustainable if neither man is favored and Stephanie obviously favors Morelli, even if she can't commit to him. Stephanie's relationship with Ranger is a lot less hot if readers know that nothing is ever going to really happen between them.
Lula's new man steals his scenes, making me hope he'll be back for the next installment. The BBQ sauce making and subsequent competition was highly entertaining, with most of its humor coming from "fish out of water" situations.
I very much enjoyed Finger Lickin' Fifteen, but I do hope for some sort of at least semi-permanent relationship resolution in future books. It's definitely time to walk away from the love triangle stuff.
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