Tricky Twenty-Two

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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Stephanie's on the hunt for a frat boy on the run, a lawn equipment thief, and a rapist. The latter two are pretty straightforward, but the frat boy, Ken “Gobbles” Globovic? Something's not right with this one, and Stephanie puts on her deerstalker to try to figure that out.

Meanwhile, Ranger needs a woman for some security work, so naturally, Stephanie's on the case. Things don't go as well with that as it should've and bodies start to show up. That's when things really start to get interesting.

Joe and Stephanie are both examining other career prospects, and watching Stephanie try out different ideas is good for a grin or two. I think I'd have preferred letting that play out a little more, honestly. She also could've played out the Grandma Mazur story longer, too – that's something I almost never say. The former would've been easier than the latter, definitely. Still, there was a time when Evanovich seemed to drag out similar storylines longer than I'd like, so this “leave ‘em wanting more” philosophy really works (“‘em” roughly translates to The Irresponsible Reader here).

Ranger stood hands on hips and looked at me. “I'm completely enamored with you, and I have no idea why.”

“I'm cute?”

“Babe, there has to be more, but honestly, I don't know what it is.”