"Sizzling Sixteen"

I've been reading Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels in order - or so I thought -- but when I saw the cover of "Sizzling Sixteen," I decided I'd missed reading this one.  As I read it, it did seem a little familiar so I suspect I did read it before then forgot I had so it was pretty much like reading it anew.  As always, Plum's sleuthing troubles tend to be fun for the reader.  My husband thinks they're a little predictable but I notice he hasn't stopped checking them out of the library.  Her latest, "Notorious Nineteen," is waiting  for me on the new Kindle Paperwhite I received for Christmas. 

Back to "Sizzling Sixteen," though....Stephanie has inherited a "lucky" bottle from her Uncle Pip but she doesn't know what is in it nor what type of luck it brings -- good or bad????  She appears to be having a lot of bad luck at the moment because her bounty hunter boss  (who is also her cousin Vinnie) has racked up a huge gambling debt to a mobster and Vinnie's been kidnapped and is being held for ransom. If she finds him, she has to find a safe place to hide him while she comes up with a way to raise the $786,000 he owes -- or Vinnie is likely to end up dead and Stephanie will be out of a job when Vincent Plum Bail Bonds has to shut its doors - or is leaving the career of bounty hunter behind good luck?

She does have some good luck since being a bounty hunter means she has some skill in finding people as well as the joint skills of  Vinnie's office manager, Connie, and Stephanie's sometimes sidekick, Lula, to help her track Vinnie down.  Between the three of them and with a little help from their friends they also might come up with a way to raise the money to pay the ransom.  Stephanie also has the hottest Trenton cop, Joe Morelli, (as well as his being her on-again, off-again boyfriend) and security agent, Ranger (who she lusts after but also fears getting romantically involved with), to watch her back -- and her back defintely needs watching because Stephanie can get into more trouble than anyone I know.

Will she save Vinnie, pay the ransom, and keep her job?  It's worth the read to find out...pazt