What was I saying about Stephanie Plum reaching a formulaic status quo? well buckle up because Evanovich plunges everyone’s favorite bounty hunter into a brand new story arc.

But that’s getting ahead of things. The first four books are pretty standard Plum hijinks though I found these to have plenty of laughs to compensate for the familiarity.

In Top Secret Twenty One, the big draw is that more of Ranger’s mysterious past is revealed as a Russian assassin is out to get Ranger and is willing to throw Stephanie off a building to do so. But that’s not the only headache in her life. The big one comes from tiny Randy Briggs whose former collegue, Jimmy Poletti wants him dead because Briggs knows all his scummy bookie secrets. It’s always fun when Briggs shows up as his obnoxious self to rattle Stephanie who also has to keep an eye on Grandma’s bucket list. There was a suggestion of a Mazur vs Bella smackdown but none really came to past as much as I wanted it to. The real smackdown may be Ranger and Morelli as Joe lets Stephanie go with one condition. Not Ranger, bit how can she resist Ranger?

Tricky Twenty Two was my favorite of the bunch as Steph deals with some of the lowest of the low. Fraternity bros. Now there’s not as bad as the ones on, say Law and Order: SVU, but with their pranks, obnoxiousness and tendency towards assholery, I couldn’t blame the Dean for wanting to take them down. But someone takes the Dean first and its up to Stephanie to get the top suspect, Zeta bro Gobbles. Now the title lives up to its promise with tricky twist and Animal House antics with literal animals. Plus it has my favorite smackdown of Stephanie’s mom getting into the action. No one mess with Mama Bear Plum.

As for the adventures Stephanie gets into, its amazing there’s no reality show in the burg. It’s quite a departure from the original semi-realism of the first few books. Here there are vampire chickens, runaway giraffes and rocket launchers. It’s a bit insane but for a Stephanie Plum, that’s just what one wants.

Turbo Twenty Three features Stephanie in a new kind of undercover work with its very special temptations as she tries to uncover who is putting corpses into Bogart Bars. It was a nice change and even incoporated my suggestion there be a reality show in the burg. Only the reality show is Lulu and Randy trying to make it big as reality stars in Naked and Afraid in Trenton. Like I said, I enjoy Randy and he combined with Lulu make a hysterical combination. I also think they had a lot to be afraid of as the killer seemed to be inspired by the killer clown epidemic that was popular awhile back. So solid book, not ice solid but solid.

Hardcore Twenty Four and Look Alive Twenty Five both deliver their own kind of laughs along with magical cameos. Lulu continues to seek stardom admist a zombie uprising which has strong ties to the rash of headless corpses but she does achieve it incidentally in Twenty Five when she become a celebrity at the deli, she and Stephanie are going undercover at. But this isn’t all about Lulu, though she is quickly stealing the scenes for me I admit. While Stephanie is a fun klutz, her schtick is getting a bit stale as she juggles guys and trips up bad guys. Lulu just has this zany optimism whatever she does. She’s confident and rocking it, I admire that.

As for magical Diesel shows up in the former to help bring down the zombie leader, and Wulf pops up in the latter for mysterious mysteruous purposes. Both make their points melting and scaring Stephanie though I do wish there was some mention of Lizzy Tucker. Like I said, I liked that series, I wished it continued and I want to know if she and Diesel are still working!

Nonetheless, I was ready for something new which Evanovich delivered with Twenty Five’s cliffhanger. Instead of Stephanie rolling into bed with her guy, she’s off to stop Grandma Mazur’s wedding with an infamous gangster.

Not that it lasts long as Twisted Twenty Six tells us. Grandpa is dead of a heart attack and everyone is after Grandma Mazur. She was there when he died, and they are sure she has the key to the safe full of gangster gold. Now Grandma knows she doesn’t have it, but with the reading of the will coming up, everyone wants to kill the widow before she gets a fortune. And by everyone, gangsters like the La-Z Boys (yes their name is taken from the chair), the two ex wives and a trio of crazy sisters. And it’s up to Stephanie to save her from the delusional kidnappers named Zeus and Miracle Fitness instructors fit to kill.

There’s also some character development as Stephanie starts thinking farther ahead to the future. Not only for a career change but a more stable life change. That does not include Ranger, though she hasn’t gotten up the guts to tell him that yet. While I don’t want Ranger to go away forever, I’m excited for Stephanie to grow a little. And yes, I want Joe, I always thought he was the better choice of the two (or three if you count Diesel’s sporadic appeareances).

But we’ll see how things go as Twenty Six ends with another cliffhanger, revealing that Grandma Mazur did get the keys to the treasure all along. Now they just have to find the safes.

Get ready for Fortune and Glory, it’s Game On.