Scruples according to Lula

"You know what your problem is? You've got too many scruples. One or two scruples is okay, but you get too many of them, and it clogs everything up."

"I got some scruples, but I know when to stop. There's a point where you have to say enough is enough and screw scruples."

"There you go with the scruples again. You gotta learn a real scruple from a worthless scruple."

Lula is a recurring character in Janet Evanovich's books about Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter less than extraordinaire. She is one of my favourite characters in that series of books. From evanovich.com: "A black woman with a rubenesque body and a Vegas wardrobe that’s four sizes too small. She’s a former ‘ho working as a file clerk at Vinnie’s office and wheelman for Stephanie."

I stumbled across these books many years ago in an English-language bookshop in Rome of all places. They had the three first ones (One for the Money, Two for the Dough, Three to get Deadly) and I just loved the cover art and I bought all three on the spot.

Summary of the first book from Wikipedia:

"Stephanie Plum  is out of a job and there isn’t much work for an ex-lingerie buyer. After caving under pressure from her mother, Stephanie goes to her cousin, Vinnie, who is a bail bondman for some filing work. When arriving Vinnie’s assistant, Connie, tells her that the filing position has been filled. Connie tells her about apprehending people who skip out on their bonds, pulls a file out of her top drawer, and shows her Joseph Morelli’s file. Morelli is a vice cop who is wanted for murder one and has a history with Stephanie which includes two sexual encounters in high school and a hit-and-run when he didn’t call afterward. Connie suggests Morelli because Stephanie will get percentage of the bond that sings to the tune of $10,000. Stephanie has had to pawn off the majority of her possessions and her car gets repossessed, she thinks bringing in Morelli will fix all of her financial problems.

Stephanie decides she wants to join up and blackmails Vinnie about an incident with a duck in order to let her try to get Morelli. With the help of some friends and the best bounty hunter in the business, Ranger, she slowly learns what it takes to be a badass bounty hunter. Along the way of trying to find Morelli Stephanie gains the unwanted attention of a heavy weight boxer that has a history of making women disappear, gains some hookers as friends, steals Morelli’s car, and enters into an agreement with Morelli himself. Then on top of all that she still has to deal with a pushy mother, a crazy grandmother, and a father who would rather not watch.

It's one hell of a way to spend the first two weeks on the job."

Stephanie is a great main character. She is actually quite normal in the sense that she barely knows one end of a gun from another and has to make things up as she goes along. From what little impressions I've had of New Jersey and the people that live there - she is a Jersey girl through and through. This means that she gets through scary and embarrasing situations on pure attitude (and a fair amount of comfort food). The other characters in the books are slightly insane in different ways, but it all kind of works - though I now probably have a very skewed idea of New Jersey life.

I've got every single Plum book that's been published and have just finished the latest one (Sizzling Sixteen). Unfortunately I have to say that they are not as good as they used to be. The problem is that each book is based on the same formula. Stephanie gets or stumbles upon a case that is way out of her league, but with help from friends and family (including her 2 beaus Joe Morelli & Ranger) she somehow manages to get through the ordeal and solve things.

There's nothing wrong with the formula per se, but it feels like the main characters are not developing any more. The last few books have all been the same. It is like the characters are in stasis. And that's a shame - because they are good characters.

I have seen reviewers of the later books on Amazon commenting on that you would kind of expect that after 16 books (and that's only the main ones, not counting novellas etc) - Stephanie would have more of a clue of what she is doing. The other main comment is - two guys want her and she can't make up her mind? After all this time surely they would have both moved on to someone else.

I can live with the fact that Stephanie is pretty much still as clueless as she was when she started, but I agree that the love life angle is getting very stale. I can understand that the author doesn't want to resolve it, because Steph in a stable relationship would be very different and it might not work out.

All in all, I highly recommend the first three books. The ones after that are good but I would caution against reading them back to back as with any formula-based books you can overdose. As for the later ones, it'll depend on how much you enjoy them I guess. I read them as they come out once a year and enjoy the light entertainment, but I do also miss the darker, more character-based plots from the earlier ones.

Harry Dresden

I stumbled across the first of the Dresden files, Storm Front, a few years ago and was seriously disappointed when I got to the end of the lot that was currently published. They are incredibly more-ish - not helped by the fact that once you start one you cannot put it down, so you finish them at warp-speed.

I finished book 11, Turn Coat, the other week and I'm already drooling after the next one. I could actually get my hands on the hard-cover version of Changes, but I love the look of the paperbacks I've got so I'm going to try to stay disciplined. Time will tell I guess.

If you haven't read them, I cannot recommend them highly enough. It's hard to describe them in a way that does them justice though.

It's all written in first person from Harry's point of view, but don't let that put you off. I normally don't like that style at all, but it is done really well. The pace of the books is one to leave you breathless. You get sucked in and they are absolutely impossible to put down, each chapter leaves you wanting to know what happens next.

What it is about? Well, that is a good question. Harry is an impoverised private investigator, who also happens to be a wizard (the only one in the yellow pages, so he says). The whole magic, supernatural thing is introduced in a very believeable way. Like most series, the first few books are quite stand-alone (though of course reading them in order does make things make more sense) - but by book 11 there is a huge amount of overarching side-plots going on as well.

Weaving a complex tapestry is the phrase that comes to mind. However, even with reading one book a year there is never any problem getting back into who is who or what is what as the author does slip in little comments to jog your memory in each book. Amazingly, these little reminders never feel forced or out of place. As a writer-wannabe I truly admire the ease with which he slips in these little things to help out the memory of old readers and quickly explain stuff to newcomers.

Anyways, I guess it is back to re-reading Eddings for the fifty-eleventh time while I wait for the next Dresden paperback. At least I now have a shiny new set of the Belgariad, Malloreon, Elenium and Tamuli. (Asked for the lot for my birthday as our current copies have been so well-read they were falling to pieces.)