Janet Evanovich, Motor Mouth

Motor Mouth

Janet Evanovich

Harper Collins, October 2006, $26.95

ISBN: 0060584033

At Homestead-Miami Speedway, Stiller Racing driver Sam Hooker finished second at the track (and first in some woman's bed). Much of the accolades for his fine showing go to the pit crew, but the majority to his spotter, Alexandra "Barney" Barnaby, whose guidance was perfect. However, Barney may have given directions when to ease and when to speed up to Sam, but something disturbed the spotter about the winning car driven by Spanky Bonnano of Huevo Motor Sports, though she is not sure what that is.

Stiller spotter Gobbles Warner calls from a cell phone to ask Barney to get him out of the truck containing the winning race driver, as he is locked inside and fears asking for help from the Huevo crew. After looking over the situation, Barney with Sam's assistance steals the truck. However, that proves a minor felony, because inside the vehicle along with the trapped Gobbles is a dead Oscar Huevo, an apparent homicide victim. Though neither wants to deal with a corpse in a stolen truck, the driver and the spotter know they must solve the murder before the police decide they committed the crime.

As with METRO GIRL, MOTOR MOUTH is a delightful caper that will lead readers to think Stephanie Plum goes NASCAR. The storyline is fun and zany, as everything that could go wrong does, with Barney believing that she makes Murphy look like an optimist as he had no St. Bernard, corpse, stolen vehicles, and the queen of fruit to contend with, besides a killer and the racing circuit. Alas, this is all part of the life of a NASCAR spotter.