Lean Mean Thirteen
Janet Evanovich
St. Martin, June 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 0312349491

Fugitive recover agent (otherwise known as a bounty hunter) Stephanie Plum is doing a favor for Carlos Manoso otherwise known as Ranger. She is going to her repulsive ex-husband's law firm to plant some listening devices in his office. When she goes there she accomplishes her mission but not before she tries to strangle him. The picture of Dickie and the woman she caught him in bed with and his revelation they reconnected made her go berserker.

When Dickie disappears and the neighbors hear shots fired in his vicinity Stephanie wonders whether he is dead or alive. Before he vanished he took millions of dollars out of the corporate account, money that makes Stephanie question whether he and his partners were into something illegal. When attempts are made on her life and one of the partners is killed, she hopes Joe and Ranger can protect her from a stone cold killer who will do whatever it takes to get what he wants, whatever that is.

While Stephanie is in the middle of Dickie's mess, she has to pick up her skips which leads her into some hilarious situations. Readers will enjoy watching her try and fail to bring them in several times. The sizzle that exists between Ranger and Stephanie, and Joe and Stephanie is hotter than in any of the other novels in this series. Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum tales is like eating potato chips as you can't stop reading until the bag is done.

Harriet Klausner