I've decided there is not enough humor in my life. Particularly when it comes to books. I never seem to read books with humor in them. Are there just not as many out there as there should be, or am I not looking hard enough? Well, I have somewhat inadvertently comes across a book that has me cracking up. Janet Evanovich is someone I've been peripherally familiar with for a long time. I've even bought some of her books for my mom, but I have never considered reading them myself. Once again my predictability comes into play. When it comes to mysteries or crime novels I tend to pick up British or international authors. Nothing at all against American authors (and I do read some, just not as many as I could)--it's just a matter of familiarity. I live here and see so much in the news both locally and nationally, I like to read about places and situations that are new and different to me. Interestingly it is thanks to British blogger, Elaine, that I am now reading American author Janet Evanovich and wondering why I ever passed her books by in the bookstore.
There are a whole series of books featuring Stephanie Plum, and while I've been told it's really fine to read the books in no particular order I came across One for the Money, the first Stephanie Plum mystery, so here I am. I think the trick with these books is to not take them too seriously and just enjoy the ride. Stephanie, first impressions anyway, is a bit of a disaster. She's thirty, divorced, and has recently lost her job as a lingerie buyer at a cut rate store (thanks to bosses with Mafia ties--did I mention this is set in Trenton, New Jersey?)). Her car has been repossessed and she's been selling off her appliances to make rent. She lives with a hamster and spends lots of time with her Italian-Hungarian family in the "burg". They like to keep close tabs on Stephanie, and often her mother will cluck over her (bad) luck with men and jobs while offering unwanted advice.
When all else fails, turn to family for help. Stephanie's cousin Vinnie is in the bail bond business, so she goes in search of a filing job and ends up becoming a "Recovery Agent", or, what might more commonly be known as a bounty hunter. She's completely unsuited for the job, which is where much of the humor comes in, but determined to bring in her first FTA--"failure to appear". The humor is sort of cumulative--it builds as the story is told, but I want to share a funny bit. It can be silly humor, but it's elicited more than one chuckle from me, and even a few guffaws (I had to be careful on the bus home from work today--surreptitious glances around to see if anyone was listening and then back to reading my book!).
For a little background information--Grandma Mazur is Stephanie's grandma and this scene takes place around the dinner table. Stephanie's mom has invited an old school friend over--doing a little matchmaking much to Stephanie's chagrin.
Grandma Mazur had both hands wrapped around the gun with her finger on the trigger. She scrinched an eye closed and sighted on the china closet. "Ka-pow," she said. "Ka-pow, ka-pow, ka-pow."
My father was busy with the sausage dressing, studiously ignoring all of us.
"I don't like guns at the table, " my mother said.
"And the dinner's getting cold. I'll have to reheat the gravy."
"This gun won't do you no good if you don't have bullets in it, " Grandma Mazur said to me. "How're you gonna catch those killers without bullets in your gun?"
Bernie had been sitting open mouthed through all this. "Killers?"
"She's after Joe Morelli, " Grandma Mazur told him. "He's a bona fide killer and a bail dodger. He plugged Ziggy Kulesza right in the head."
"I knew Ziggy Kulesza," Bernie said. "I sold him a big-screen TV about a year ago. We don't sell many big screens. Too expensive."
"He buy anything from you?" I asked. "Anything recent?"
"Nope. But I'd see him sometimes across the street at Sal's Butcher Shop, Ziggy seemed okay. Just a regular sort of person, you know?"
No one had been paying attention to Grandma Mazur. She was still playing with the gun, aiming and sighting, getting used to the heft of it. I realized there was a box of ammo beside the tampons. A scary thought skittered to my mind. "Grandma, you didn't load the gun, did you?"
"Well of course I loaded the gun," she said. "And I left the one hole empty like I saw on the television. That way you can't shoot nothing by mistake." She cocked he gun to demonstrate the safety of her action. There was a loud bang, a flash erupted from the gun barrel and the chicken carcass jumped on the plate.
"Holy mother of God!" my mother shrieked, leaping to her feet, knocking the chair over.
I like Stephanie Plum. There's something sort of endearing about her and I have to find out if she brings in her man and get the $10,000 reward for doing so (lord knows she needs the money). This seems a quick, easy read, and I am enjoying the funny parts. I think she is going to become my 'turn to' author when I need something funny. Who's your favorite humorous author?