Janet Evanovich always makes me laugh out loud several times during my read, and Sizzling Sixteen is no exception.  This one had me reading several paragraphs out loud to Doc, who always nods and smiles at my laughter.

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Stephanie Plum’s major assignment this time around is trying to raise over $700,000 to secure the release of her kidnapped cousin Vinnie. Yes, the same Vinnie who is the owner of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds and her boss, although she personally loathes the man. His gambling debt to a mobster has set this whole caper in motion.

Helping Stephanie, as only she can, is file clerk Lula, she of the spandex outfits she squeezes her zaftig body into; and Connie, office manager, who decides to lend a hand getting Vinnie back. All three are more anxious to save their jobs than to save Vinnie, but since it boils down to the same thing, off they go.

Stephanie’s on-again, off-again romance with cop Joe Morelli is in an ‘off’ stage in this one, so sexy security expert Ranger ramps up the heat.  Of course, Stephanie still needs to find her usual collars to keep the business going, as the trio search for Vinnie.  There are encounters with a Jersey Turnpike toilet paper bandit and a drug dealer with a pet alligator named Mr. Jingles. Really.

And no Plum novel would be complete without a turn from Grandma Mazur, one of the funniest characters ever put on the page.

You can’t get better summer reading than putting on the sunblock and settling down with the fast read.  I’m waiting for Stephanie and company to be put on the big screen. Readers, who would play Stephanie, Lula, Joe and Ranger?