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Those who have yet to discover Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum and her weird relatives and relationships are missing a huge treat or living in a
cave. I recommend beginning with the first in the series, One for the Money, but Seven Up stands alone quite well.

Grandma Mazur has finally gotten her driver’s license, bought a red Corvette, and lost the driver’s license for too many speeding tickets,
all in the space of five days. The scenes at the dinner table are always my favorite with Stephanie’s father trying not to choke on his
food every time Grandma Mazur makes some outrageous statement or describes which funeral director does a better job at making up
their clients and why. � ‘I saw a television show the other week
about a woman like that,� Grandma said. ‘This woman was real sexy, and it turned out that one of the men she was flirting with was an alien
from outer space. And the alien took the woman up to his spaceship and did all kinds of things to her.�

“My father hunkered lower over his plateful of food and mumbled something indiscernible except for the words . . . Crazy old bat.
� ‘What about Loretta [recent murder victim found in Eddie’s garage:] and Eddie DeChooch?� I asked. ‘Do you suppose they were seeing each
other?� � ‘Not that I know of,� Grandma said. ‘From what I know Loretta liked her men hot, and Eddie DeChooch couldn’t get it up. I went with
him a couple of times, and that thing of his was dead as a doorknob. No matter what I did I couldn’t get a thing to happen.�
“My father looked up at Grandma, and a piece of meat fell out of his mouth. “My mother was red-faced at the other end of the table. She sucked in some air and made the sign of the cross. ‘Mother of God,� she said. “I fiddled with my fork. ‘If I left now I probably wouldn’t get any pineapple upside-down cake, right?� � ‘Not for the rest of your life,� my mother said.

It seems Eddie DeChooch, half-blind and really old, had decided to make a killing by smuggling some cigarettes. Unfortunately, Louie, his contact in Richmond, died of a heart attack, and when contacted, the family lawyer told Eddie to “bring the fart back.� Eddie’s hearing
being substandard, he thought he heard the lawyer say heart. Arrested by the police on the way back from Richmond, Eddie had skipped
bail and so Stephanie was assigned to go get him. Much easier said than done, because the heart has disappeared and the whole family,
mob-connected, is determined to get it back, only no one knows where it is.

Throw in two crazy old ladies, a Grandma Mazur kidnapping (she was thrilled and intended to keep talking about it for weeks), a wedding
dress, another smashed-up Stephanie car, and Ranger giving Stephanie more than goose bumps, and you have another classic Evanovich.

Light but lots of fun.