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Stephanie Plum is still working for her cousin Vinnie, tracking down those inhabitants of The Burg who haven't shown up for their court dates. Vinnie has branched out lately. He is now posting something called "Visa Bonds", bonds to ensure that people who come to the US on work visas don't outstay their welcome and become illegal immigrants. Vinnie has posted a "Visa Bond" for Samuel Singh, who works (temporarily) at a company called Triborough. (All spellings are guesses, based on hearing the words instead of seeing them.) Samuel Singh's visa hasn't expired yet, but he has disappeared, along with Boo, the dog of his fiance Nonnie Apusenja. The scenes involving Nonnie's mother, Mrs. Apusenja, are some of the funniest in the book, in a very low-key fashion. In the process of trying to track down Samuel Singh, Stephanie pulls some loose threads which connect to a much larger tapestry than anyone expects. The missing Mr. Singh is part of a series of murders, with no very obvious connection - except for the red roses and white carnations. Ultimately, Stephanie is the recipient of this unwelcome floral arrangement, which would indicate to all but the most clueless that she is to be the next victim. To The Nines starts out with Stephanie and Lula trying to capture and handcuff a large man who has coated himself in Vaseline. They are successful, although it does take some doing. As one might expect, it's a hilarious vignette. Evanovich is very good at this, and To The Nines is full of these little moments of high comedy. The trip to Las Vegas, starting with the airport hassles, is another great bit of writing. There is the usual sexual tension with Ranger, the jostling with Morelli for a level of comfort both Stephanie and Morelli can live with, the manifestations of dysfunction within the Plum family. These manifestations are exacerbated by Valerie's impending delivery and the possibility that the father of Valerie's child (a man named Clown) will have to move in with Valerie and her two daughters. This has Stephanie's father packing up to move out. Lula has a larger role in To The Nines. Evanovich has put Lula on a series of diets, and in a wardrobe to die for. Some of the best listening has Lula ranting about food, and what she needs when. We also learn a bit more about Connie, Vinnie's receptionist. I knew who the bad guy was, and knew it fairly early on. I don't know if I would have picked up on it as quickly if I had been reading the book instead of listening to it. It was so obvious to me that I was quite annoyed that Stephanie wasn't getting it. I'm fairly new to listening to a book. I found it very odd that everyone except Stephanie had an accent of some kind. This made it easy to know who was who, which is a good thing. I didn't like the accent Ranger had - I never got the impression from reading the books that Ranger spoke so differently than everyone else. Also his speaking voice, as done by Ms. King, is sometimes very difficult to hear and/or understand. Stephanie doesn't have any perceptible accent at all . . . just that television-bland Americanese voice. Perhaps Ms. King did that because Stephanie does so much mental narration that an accent would have been disconcerting or difficult to carry off I have a personal preference for unabridged books on tape, because I always suspect that some of the better bits of writing don't make the cut in an abridged version if they don't have a direct bearing on the plot. None of the good parts are left out of this. I found, with the noted exceptions, that Ms. King did an excellent job of bringing the printed word to life. Anyone who has enjoyed the previous Plum books will certainly find this one to their liking. I think the overall plotting is better than in some of the previous works, the characterizations of the recurring minor characters is improving, and Evanovich knows how to write a good comedy.
Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, August 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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