To the nines

To the nines by Janet Evanovich

Published by St. Martins

Grade: B

Stephanie Plum may not the best bounty hunter in beautiful downtown Trenton, but she's pretty darn good at turning bad situations her way... and she always gets her man. In TO THE NINES her cousin Vinnie (who's also her boss) has posted bail on Samuel Singh, an illegal immigrant. When the elusive Mr. Singh goes missing,
Stephanie is on the case. But what she uncovers is far more sinister than anyone imagines and leads to a group of killers who give new meaning to the word "hunter... " In a race against time that takes her from the Jersey Turnpike to the Vegas strip, Stephanie Plum is on the chase of her life.

There is a really good ebb and flow with series. Even though I am finding the books repetitive, I'm still totally addicted.

In To the nines, Ranger and Stephanie are trying to bring in Singh. A man who is missing, and has been provided with a visa bond. Steph still isn't very good at being a bounty hunter, so she gets into lots of trouble.

There is no less drama on the family front. Val, Steph's sister, is nine months pregnant. The baby daddy is the silly lawyer from Hard eight.

Here are a few of my favourite Ranger moments.

While talking about the case..

"The dog could be a coincidence"
"I don't think so. My Spidey sense tells me the disappearances are
related"
Ranger grinned at me. "Your spidey sense tell you anything else?"
"Is that a mocking grin?"
"it's the grin of a man who loves you, babe."
My heart skipped around a little and I got warm in places only Morelli
should be warming. "Love?"
"There's all kinds of love," Ranger said. "This kind doesn't come with a
ring attached."
"Nice, but you avoided my question about the mocking grin."
He gave my ponytail a playful tug.

Steph and Ranger go to a restaurant that sells good pie. Steph orders her pie, but Ranger only orders a coffee..

"Excuse me?" I said, palms down on the formica table top. "Coffee? I
thought we came here for pie?"
"I don't eat the kind of pie they serve here."
I felt a flash of heat go through my stomach. I knew firsthand the kind of
pie that Ranger liked.

Steph gets a haircut. A really short type of pixie cut..

When we were back in the car I turned to Ranger. "Is it really cute, or
were you just trying to keep me from shrieking?"
He ran a hand through my hair. "It's sexy," he said. And he kissed me.
Tongue and everything.
"Hey," I said. "We're not supposed to be doing that."
A smiled hovered over the edge of his mouth. "Morelli told me you were all
mine today".
"That was a figure of speech. He trusts us."
Ranger turned the key in the ignition. "He trusts you. I haven't
signed on to the trust me program."
"How about me? Can I trust you?"
"Are we talking about your life or your body?"
I already knew the answer so I moved on.

Here is a little excerpt from a dinner at Stephs parents house. Kloughn (Val's baby daddy) was talking about how much gravy Val was eating..

Valerie glanced sideways at Kloughn. "You're not going to lecture me on my
diet, are you?"
Kloughn sat up straight in his seat, eyes wide and birdlike. "Me, no. Honest. I wouldn't do anything like that. I like fat women. Just the other day I was thinking how fat women were soft. Nothing I like better than big, soft, squishy pillows of fat."
He was nodding his balding head, trying hard, running down dark roads of
panic. "Look at me. I'm nice and fat, too. I'm like the Doughboy. Go ahead, poke
my stomach. I'm just like the Doughboy," Kloughn said.
"Omigod," my sister wailed. "You think I'm fat."
She went into open mouthed sobbing and the plate slid from her stomach and
crashed onto the floor.
Kloughn bent to retrieve the plate and farted. "That wasn't me, "he
said.
"Maybe it was me," Grandma said. "Sometimes they sneak out. Did I fart?" she
asked everyone.

Here is a moment with Joe Morelli. He is not happy that Steph is again in danger..

"I hate this,"Morelli said. "Why can't I have a girlfriend who has normal
problems... like breaking a fingernail or missing a period or falling in love
with a lesbian?"

Bob the dog is still around. I like him. Since someone is trying to kill steph she has moved in with Joe (again) She takes Bob out for a walk..

Lesson number one when cohabiting with a man and a dog: Never be the first
to arrive home.
I went to he backyard, got the snow shovel to flip the poop into the
street. Then I sat on the stoop and waited for a car to run over the poop. Two
cars drove by, but both of them avoided the poop. I gave a sigh of resignation,
went into the kitchen, got a plastic baggie, scooped the poop up off the street,
and threw it in the garbage. Sometimes you just can't catch a break.

This next excerpt is from after Val baby is born. Valeria is breastfeeding baby Lisa, looking all cute and sweet..

And just like that, as of that instant, I wanted a baby.
I didn't care if it had to come out of my vagina.

Joe and Steph are 'on again' in this one, but she spends so much time with Ranger because he is acting as her body guard. He did have two of his team watching her, but one got his leg broken, and the other fainted after he saw baby Lisa's foot coming out of the birth canal. Poor guys.

So, when Steph wasn't with Joe she was with Ranger. Lucky girl.

In order the books are,

One for the money
Two for the dough
Three to get deadly
Four to score
High five
Hot six
Seven up
Hard eight