Review: Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evnanovich (audio)

Title: Notorious Nineteen

Author: Janet Evanovich

Series: Stephanie Plum, #19

Narrator: Lorelei King

Published: 2012, Random House Audio

Length: 6 hours, 4 minutes

Source: Library

Stephanie Plum finally
lands an assignment that could put her checkbook back in the black.
Geoffrey Cubbin, facing trial for embezzling millions from Trenton’s
premier assisted-living facility, has mysteriously vanished from the
hospital after an emergency appendectomy. Unfortunately, Cubbin has disappeared without a
trace, a witness, or his money-hungry wife. Rumors are stirring that he
must have had help with the daring escape . . . or that maybe he never
made it out of his room alive. Since the hospital staff’s lips seem to
be tighter than the security, and it’s hard for Stephanie to blend in to
assisted living, Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur goes in undercover. But when
a second felon goes missing from the same hospital, Stephanie is forced
into working side by side with Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, in
order to crack the case.

The real problem is, no Cubbin also
means no way to pay the rent. Desperate for money, Stephanie accepts a secondary job guarding her secretive and
mouthwatering mentor Ranger from a deadly Special Forces adversary.
While Stephanie is notorious for finding trouble, she may have found a
little more than she bargained for this time around. Then again—a little
food poisoning, some threatening notes, and a bridesmaid’s dress with
an excess of taffeta never killed anyone . . . or did they? If Stephanie
Plum wants to bring in a paycheck, she’ll have to remember: No guts, no
glory.

My thoughts: Oh…Stephanie, Stephanie, Stephanie…I think you may be one of my all-time favorite characters ever! Between your love triangle with Joe Morelli and Ranger and all the crazy antics you seem to find yourself, I can’t seem to get enough!

In this installment, Stephanie needs Grandma Mazur to help with an investigation. Now when you include Grandma Mazur in anything, you can be sure there will be many laughs – she may just be the funniest grandma ever! Asking her to snoop around the hospital is almost the perfect job for her as she tends to head to the hospital at least once a week for lunch to pick up any scoop and then heads to Costco for free dessert. And why shouldn’t she???

Then there are the many scenes with Lula…another of my favorite characters ever! Stephanie needs to go for a bridesmaid fitting for an undercover job and takes Lula with her. She tells Stephanie that if she was getting married, she would have her bridesmaids in animal print – zebra or leopard. I wouldn’t expect anything less but would absolutely love to see that in action!

As is typical with the books in this series, there is lots of action and some familiar characters make appearances in this book – most notably the vertically challenged Briggs. I love when Janet Evanovich brings back characters from earlier books!

I am now caught up with this series until the next one, Takedown Twenty comes out next month. The big question is will this be the last one? Will Stephanie ever make a choice between the two men in her life? Can’t wait to find out!!!

Audio Thoughts: Lorelei King rocks in narrating this series. It’s really hard to have anything new to say after listening to all these books this year, but I will say I am extremely impressed with the fact that not only does Lorelei manage to keep the same voices for each regular character (Stephanie, Joe, Ranger, Lula, etc), but she also manages to use the same voice for those characters that reappear in later books. I find that absolutely amazing and it definitely adds to the enjoyment of the series!

Books in this series:

     1.  One for the Money                         12.  Twelve Sharp
     2.  Two for the Dough                         12.5  Plum Lovin’
     3.  Three to Get Deadly                      13.  Lean Mean Thirteen
     4.  Four to Score                                   13.5  Plum Lucky
     5.  High Five                                           14.  Fearless Fourteen
     6.  Hot Six                                                14.5  Plum Spooky
     7.  Seven Up                                           15.  Finger Lickin’ Fifteen
     8.  Hard Eight                                         16.  Sizzling Sixteen

     8.5  Visions of Sugar Plums              17.  Smokin’ Seventeen

     9.  To the Nines                                      18.  Explosive Eighteen

    10.  Ten Big Ones                                    19.  Notorious Nineteen

    11.  Eleven on Top                                 20.  Takedown Twenty – due out Nov 2013