Three To Get Deadly

Three To Get Deadly
Author: Janet Evanovich
St. Martin's, 1997
321 pages

This is the third Stephanie Plum book, and this time, bounty hunter Stephanie is on the trail of "Uncle" Mo, the popular proprietor of the local candy store who failed to make a court appearance. As Stephanie attempts to track him down, she faces the wrath of Mo's neighbors and friends, who not only don't want to help her find him, they're angry with her for trying. Suddenly, local drug dealers start dropping like flies . . . and signs point to Mo. Has the candy salesman turned into a vigilante? His neighbors and friends see him as a hero, but Stephanie may be about to uncover something that will shock everyone.

Three To Get Deadly is an easy read, and I should have finished it sooner. However, a houseful of guests knocked me off my routine in the middle of the book. I was able to recover, but for some reason I didn't enjoy this book as much as the last one. There was a lot of comedy in the book that at times seemed like filler material. Stephanie's relationship with Joe Morelli is heating up, so it'll be interesting to see where that goes (I can imagine, LOL!) Lula's character provides a certain comic relief; I can see lots of potential here. I missed Grandma Mazur in this one and hope she'll be back in future books.

All in all, entertaining, with several laugh-out-loud moments -- and some eye-rolling moments, too. Fortunately, there were more of the former than latter.