Visions of Sugar Plums (Hardcover)

Stephanie Plum is back - the very definition of feisty, with her family, the very embodiment of dysfunctional, in her wake. Evanovich's popular mix of heart-of-gold bounty hunter - with her hamster, her confusing love life, nurturing mother, wilfully eccentric grandmother and grumbling father - has found increasing success over eight full novels so far and now returns in a pleasing Christmas confection of a novella. Visited by a mysterious - if very good-looking - man by the name of Diesel, Stephanie is trying to reel in a bail absconder by the name of Sandy Claus while hoping against hope that she'll get in the festive spirit - but unfortunately the two won't go, and even her shopping remains undone. Attacked by midgets, plagued by electrical blackouts, and with a sister made pregnant by a dough ball of an ambulance chaser of a lawyer, she finds that things just refuse to go smoothly. And all the time she is flanked by Diesel, the very odd stranger with apparently supernatural powers, who may be an alien, Superman or just the ghost of Christmas present. Evanovich's familiar style will be as reassuring to her many fans as the kitchen smell of cookies she so effortlessly evokes. Stephanie's many plucky failures and few flukey successes are as reliable but as beautifully delivered as ever and the smartly drawn background cast draws the reader in from the first page. An easy way with wisecracks and dazzlingly speedy plots make Evanovich's comic thrillers just about the most fun you can have in crime fiction. (Kirkus UK)

Stephanie Plum, the least organized bounty hunter and holiday shopper (Hard Eight, 2002, etc.) in Trenton, New Jersey, has never much cared whether 'tis the season to be jolly. Nor is there much hope for this Yule, given the way it's started. Steph's sitting at her ease in her kitchen, sipping morning coffee, enjoying special time with Rex, her pet hamster, when "poof, there he was," all six-feet-plus of him-blond wavy hair, dazzling smile, pecs out of the bodybuilder's Hall of Fame, calling himself Diesel (just the one name, thanks). Sure, says Steph, but who is he? she wants to know; forgive her for not taking too seriously his claim to be "the friggin Spirit of Christmas." Still, there's definitely something strange about this spectral hunk. Unwilling to be a bounty hunter who's not ready to accept fate's occasional bounties, Steph enlists Diesel in hunting her latest Failure to Appear: a toy-maker named (brace yourself) Sandy Klaws. He's wanted on a burglary charge, though it turns out there are extenuating circumstances. Off they go, Steph and her supercharged ad hoc sidekick, who, if he's not actually extraterrestrial, is certainly extra sexy, as several Plum women attest. (Grandma Mazur: "A pip." Sister Valerie: "Dang.") Plotting gets short shrift in this thinnest of Plum puddings, but there's one scene Steph's fans won't want to miss: the Jersey girl chased from a toy factory by a mob of enraged elves. Not for everyone, but come all ye faithful. (Kirkus Reviews)

It's December in Jersey, and Stephanie Plum has bigger problems than the usual thugs, thieves and hoodlums. This time, there's someone in her apartment who just won't leave. Sure, this kind of thing has happened to Stephanie before...but in the past she has been able to talk her way out of trouble. This time, fast talking, stun guns and pepper spray won't remove the intruder. Visions of Sugar Plums takes Stephanie Plum on a Christmas holiday adventure and introduces a new character that readers will adore! He's as mysterious as Ranger, as sexy as Morelli, and...well, we won't say any more.