All you Stephanie Plum fanatics, and there must be a lot of them considering how this series still tops bestseller lists, here's some good news for you:
NYT bestselling author Janet Evanovich's next three Stephanie Plum titles, to Matthew Shear and Jennifer Enderlin at St. Martin's, in a major deal, by Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group (NA)
Oh, great. Three (actually four, since I assume the next book, ELEVEN ON TOP, is not part of this new deal) more books where Steph can't possibly figure out how to choose between Ranger and Morelli, where Granda Mazur acts like a caricature of an old lady and where an endless stream of cars blow up yet again. Then again, maybe Evanovich will surprise me. That would be kind of cool.
Also of interest is the fact that this particular book, first reported on way back in November 2000, has yet to see the light of day:
Janet Evanovich's nonfiction collection about bounty hunters, "a field guide of sorts to the world of bond enforcement agents," to Jennifer Enderlin at St. Martin's, for a ''substantial six figures," by Trident Media's Robert Gottlieb.
I assume it's still in the works, but anyone who can enlighten me on this is, of course, most welcome.
I agree with your assessment of the Stephanie Plum novels. I liked the first few, but the story never changed. It's always her bumbling around trying to find out who killed someone. It's too formulaic I guess---I gave up on the series after number 7.
Can you recommend a good series to start? I know that's a big question, but I think we have similar tastes (I loved Case Histories, which I read on your recommendation).
Posted by: bookdwarf | January 10, 2005 at 02:31 PM
I too enjoyed the first few Plum novels but have also turned away from them. For the same kind of humor and family fuzzies I recommend Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar series. While they aren't slapstick and the themes are a little darker than Plum, the characters (including a chick named Big Cindy and her former female professional wrestling partner Little Pocahantas) are a riot and Myron's humor is razor sharp. Also, it's not much like Plum at all, but it's still funny and one of my favorites, Donald Westlake's Dortmunder series of caper novels are great. The plan always goes wrong and most of the guys he recruits are hilarious.
Posted by: Bryon | January 10, 2005 at 03:19 PM
Hey there,
I'm literaryvamp from over at Chicklit & am taking a look around.
I only read my first Plum novel last year so I'm still loving them. I just finished the ninth one, which disappointed me somewhat because I figured out the identity of the killer way too early on in the book, and spent the rest of my time yelling at Stephanie to hurry up. It sure wasn't as good as her other books. But there were two sections in the book that made me laugh like hell. And I guess that's why I still enjoy her. She's one of the only writers who can actually give me a bellylaugh.
I think I'll give the recommended Myron Bolitar a try. Any suggestions?
As for the nonfiction collection, that might be cool as long as it deals with some female hunters. Have you seen "Dog, the Bounty Hunter" on A&E?? It's even worse than it sounds.
Posted by: Literary Vamp | January 10, 2005 at 03:45 PM
I stopped the Plum's after the first coupla. She does, I agree, give you good belly laughs. But Stephanie got on my nerves. You can only go so far agonizing between two men, not carrying a gun or acting stupid about it, etc.
Hey, Dog, Bounty Hunter's good camp fun. God, his companion, Beth, scares the hey out of me. (She must have DDD implants.) I did a little poking around on bondsmen and found a few boards -- there's one bondsman who loathes Chapman (Dog). I figured the guy's just jealous because ~he's~ not getting the attention, the show, etc. The whole thing's a hoot.
Jeanne
Posted by: Jeanne Ketterer | January 10, 2005 at 08:06 PM
Say it isn't so. I was in the Eight Is Enough camp. Granted, I was standing alone, but... Unless there are profound changes, I doubt I'll be around to see when Stephanie makes her final choice (though I'm betting on a character-to-be-introduced-later). I don't even think I picked up the last one.
Posted by: booksquare | January 11, 2005 at 06:14 PM
Say it isn't so. I was in the Eight Is Enough camp. Granted, I was standing alone, but... Unless there are profound changes, I doubt I'll be around to see when Stephanie makes her final choice (though I'm betting on a character-to-be-introduced-later). I don't even think I picked up the last one.
Posted by: booksquare | January 11, 2005 at 06:17 PM