Hot Stuff
Evanovich fans will be delighted with this new novel, co-written with relative up-and-comer Banks. Working her formula to its fullest, Evanovich conjures the large, close, gently eccentric Madigan family that 26-year-old college student Cate calls her own. An aspiring teacher, Cate studies by day and bartends by night, living in the arty South End of Boston with an often-absent drag queen named Marty (Marta) Longfellow. The perfect living arrangement-"a big strong roommate...not interested in women," plenty of alone time and low rent-turns wholly suspicious when Marty disappears, leaving behind a lovable bullmastiff. Cate's sexy love interest, barroom regular Kellen McBride, is an "independent recovery agent" who believes that Marty is responsible for a string of one-of-a-kind jewelry heists; after Marty's place gets tossed, Cate teams up with him to track down the missing Marty before whoever's after him comes after her. Like other Evanovich novels, there's a madcap race to the finish while mysteries are solved and hearts are stolen; also like other Evanovich novels, it makes a highly satisfying read.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.