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VISIONS OF SUGARPLUMS
by Janet Evanovich
St. Martin's Press, November 2002
149 pages
$19.95
ISBN: 0312306326


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

For the die-hard fans that just cannot get enough of Jersey girl bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, Janet Evanovich presents her heroine in this all-new Christmas tale. In Visions of Sugar Plums, Stephanie needs to find a bail jumper by the name of Sandy Claws.

Mr. Claws was arrested for stealing tools and paint from a hardware store and failed to make his court appearance. Stephanie has no time for this; she has to buy a Christmas tree and get presents for her friends and family with less than four days until the dreaded day. What is a girl supposed to do? The other problem in her life is that one morning a man has appeared out of nowhere in her kitchen. His name is Diesel and he was sent there to help Stephanie catch Claws and show her the true meaning of Christmas. Oh, boy.

Evanovichís latest novella is the latest installment in the Stephanie Plum series, where the action in this book takes place after the events in Hard Eight. Most of the regulars make a token appearance in this book; Stephanieís family, her on-again-off-again police boyfriend, Joe Morelli; Albert Kloughn, the ambulance-chasing lawyer dating Stephanieís former goody-two-shoes sister, Valerie; and of course, who cannot forget, Grandma Mazur. If you still have not met this horny, gun-toting, funeral-loving, happy-go-lucky septuagenarian who always brings an elderly stud muffin home for dinner, you are in for a treat. Read her first appearance in the first book of the series, One for the Money. After you finish that book you will see why Grandma Mazur is one of the two most popular characters of the series. The most notable absence throughout the entire novel is Ranger, the cool and suave bounty hunter who has saved Ms. Plumís life on numerous occasions. Diesel picks up the slack on this book, but who is he really? Is he an angel or a devil in disguise? Stephanie wants to know because his abilities are short of miraculous. He is always in the right place at the right time and is able to easily open heavily locked doors. Ah, who is she kidding? He is hot, very sexy and drives a cool black Jaguar.

It is hard to make much out of this book due to the supernatural elements interspersed in the plot. Will this continue in future novels? Who knows? However, everything people are used to in reading the series is present in this book. Stephanie will battle a mob of little people; her personal life is still a mess; and she demonstrates why New Jersey is the state with the highest car insurance premiums in the country. There is also a major event taking place in the book that will radically affect the Plum household. Visions of Sugar Plums is a fun novel, but two questions still remain. What direction will the series take after this story and also, where is Ranger? Stay tuned.

Reviewed by Angel L. Soto, January 2003

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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