Just Finished Reading High Five by Janet Evanovich

Janet Evanovich is a prolific fiction writer whose Stephanie Plum mystery series has been very successful: Janet is eighty years old and just came out with the thirtieth Plum novel.  I began reading the series myself six years ago but drifted away after the fourth book.  I'm not sure why that was, since I liked the characters even if they seemed a little too much of a "Jersey thing"...it's all set around Trenton, and you might think from the dialogue that some of the characters just might be related to those on Jersey Shore.  Protagonist Stephanie Plum is a spunky if not very adept bounty hunter...too many of her efforts at dragging in bail jumpers on behalf of her cousin Vinnie's bail bonds agency end in failure, often dismally.  There are some ongoing back stories transferring from novel to novel, including her friendship with Lula, an ex-prostitute working now as Vinnie's clerk and who seems to possess more common sense than most of the other characters...especially Stephanie.  Then there's Morelli, a cop who's her main love interest and Ranger, a mysterious dude who helps her with some of the more daring, armed aspects of her trade.  In High Five, lots of different stuff is going on: Plum is assigned to bring in Briggs, a "little person"...of course, she botches it up and although he is turned in, his lawsuit threat causes Vinnie to temporarily house him with her in her apartment...that's hilarious.  The bad dude Ramirez (from the first book) has been let out of jail and is stalking our heroine for revenge...naturally, her ineptness prevents her from ever detecting him.  But what turns into the main story is the mysterious disappearance of her uncle Fred, who vanished in broad daylight while doing ordinary chores in town.  I liked the informal first-person narration by Stephanie Plum and the irreverent banter throughout the story was very funny, for the most part...especially with Briggs and Plum's inimitable Grandma Mazur.  High Five is a good, solid mix of humor and mystery...and of course, while there's danger you know that Stephanie will always be around for the next book.  Maybe I'll stick around longer to read the rest of Evanovich's series...if my reading can catch up with her speedy writing, that is...