Review: 'Dirty Thirty'
Dirty Thirty: A Stephanie Plum Novel
By Janet Evanovich
Crime Fiction
October 2023
Atria Books
Once upon a time, an unemployed girl from the Burg blackmailed her cousin into giving her a job as a bounty hunter. In her first outing, her Grandma Mazur said outrageous things, Rex the hamster was happy on his wheel regardless of exploding cars, her mentor Ranger was hot and her once-and-possibly-future boyfriend Joe Morelli put up with more than he gave.
That was the first Stepanie Plum book, One for the Money. In Dirty Thirty, the 30th novel in the series, Grandma Mazur says outrageous things, Rex the hamster is happy n his wheel regardless of exploding cars and homemade bombs, Ranger is still hot and Joe Moreilli puts up with more than he gives.
In the latest book, which publishes on Halloween, business is slow at Vinnie's. So Stephanie accepts an outside job from the local third-generation jeweler. His business was robbed in daylight but the would=be jewel thief botched the job and got away. The daytime security guard, a local guy named Nutsy who used to be a clown, is accused of snatching a tray of diamonds from the safe while the robber dropped the bag of jewels he got in the stick-up. The jeweler wants his inventory back. Yesterday.
Stephanie might as well stay busy. It's not just needing money, it's that her boyfriend Morelli is in Miami waiting to testify in a trial. She's got his big orange dog, Bob, and Bob eats a lot. Especially doughnuts, clothing and furniture. Then, Lula's apartment is hit with a fire. So she temporarily moves in with Plum, Rex and Bob. Then they find the clown and he ends up there too. No wonder a girl ends up calling on Ranger. He’s very helpful, but for a good night's sleep?
In between trying to figure out who has the jewels, threats against those involved escalate, low-bail FTAs come across for Stephanie and Lula to round up, Bob finds more things to eat and creatures to play with, and Ranger gets involved. The plot weaves in and out of Stephanie's life and relatives. Grandma Mazur is plugged into the Burg's gossip network and Lula is shown to be a superior human being.
When all the pieces of the puzzle are revealed, it all fits. Stephanie's life, however, is far from neat or solved. She's got a lot going on.
While the ability to keep beloved characters and situations in play is a great skill, Evanovich also shows that she knows how to throw well-aimed spanners in the works. By the time the novel is finished, readers may well be itching to get their hands on the next book right away.