Going Rogue: Rise and Shine Twenty-Nine

Janet Evanovich just keeps churning out new installments in the "Stephanie Plum" series. The plots are fairly predictable and the characters have become familiar to her regular readers--I think I have read every one. Still, they are an amusing light read. Stephanie and Lula are concerned when they come to the bail bonds office one Monday morning to find neither Connie nor her regular box of donuts are there. It turns out she has been kidnapped and Stephanie is determined to rescue Connie without anyone else learning that she's been kidnapped. Of course, Lula is along for the ride. When the kidnappers call and demand a coin that was provided as bail for a recently murdered man, things go from bad to worse, because the coin is nowhere to be found. A phone call to Vinnie, who is out of town is no help as he doesn't even remember taking the coin. Stephanie and Lula track down the coin's previous owner to get a description and then head off to a comic book convention to try and find a replacement. When that fails to satisfy the kidnappers, the threats to Connie's well-being escalate. Of course Ranger has to assist with some less than legal information gathering and with keeping Stephanie safe. This time around, more than a car gets destroyed. Publishers Weekly describes the book as "fast and fun," concluding "This fetchingly frivolous entry may not be Evanovich’s best, but it satisfies." Booklist is considerably more enthusiastic as they gush "Irreverent, raucous, bawdy, and always laugh-out-loud hilarious, this is Evanovich at her brilliant best."