Smokin’ Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

Title: Smokin’ Seventeen

Author: Janet Evanovich
Read by: Lorelei King
Publisher: Random House Audio
Length: 6 ½ Hours, 5 CDs
Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

Lorelei King is the master narrator of audiobooks. I’ll admit that I check out Janet Evanovich’s books now solely to hear King’s masterful narration. She is the best narrator of audiobooks that I have ever listened to; I need to find out what other audiobooks that she has done. She doesn’t just read the books; she becomes the characters in the novel giving them each their own unique voice and personalities. I love to listen to her.

I’ll admit that I loved the Stephanie Plum novels, but I have begun to despair of the series. Stephanie Plum has made no forward growth in her life. At this point, I would really love her to pick either Ranger or Morelli, get married, and move on with life. It would be comedy gold in its own right. Especially if she ended up with a Stephanie junior. Truthfully if I didn’t love to listen to Lorelei King and her interpretation so much, I would have given up on the series a few books ago.

In Smokin’ Seventeen, dead bodies keep showing up at the construction site of the new Plum Bail Bonds office. Even more disturbing is that some have the sign “For Stephanie” on them. Stephanie is working on finding out the killer’s identity, but is waylaid when her mother becomes bent on fixing her up with a former high school football star, Dave. Dave is a great cook, but lacks the sex appeal of either Morelli or Ranger. Speaking of Morelli and Ranger, Morelli’s crazy grandmother puts a curse on Stephanie to drive her apart from Morelli. The curse increases her libido and finds her with both men on consecutive nights.

The mystery was good in this book, but the slutty Stephanie drove me insane. Sleeping with Morelli and Ranger on consecutive nights seemed very trashy to me and made me think, why are these guys even sticking with you, just pick one already!! As I said before, the narration by Lorelei King and the great characters keep me listening, but I hope that Evanovich starts to give Stephanie some growth or it may be time for me to move on.