Stephanie Plum books are about as reliably enjoyable as they come for me, though I’ll concede this wasn’t Janet Evanovich’s best offering. I don’t agree with a lot of reviewers that the series has largely gone downhill over the last 5-7 books, but this one was definitely a lesser animal than many of the others.

The continued plot from book 26 (Are we doing that now with Stephanie Plum books? Continued plots?) wasn’t bad, but probably could have been condensed down into a single book. Still, it was a fun ride.

The skips in this one are a mixed bag. Potts and his derelict bodyguard fantasies was actually pretty funny. I hope he returns in future installments. The others weren’t anything new or wonderful.

In terms of the trademark humor of the series, this one was good, but not great. Lula (usually a slam dunk for comic relief) was a disappointment this time, and Grandma’s role in the hunt for the treasure sort of turned her into a straight man, which wasn’t good. It was Potts who came to the rescue and bailed out the otherwise tepid humor of the story.

I was happy to see Ranger back in the romantic picture, though disappointed by how things ended with Morelli. Gabriella didn’t really add much to the story and is clearly just here to be introduced before her own spinoff series, which garners zero interest from me.

Finally, I’ll unfortunately have to share that I do not recommend the audiobook. Some of my gripes about it are no one’s fault. When you’re 27 books into a series, you have a pretty clear idea in your head about how the characters might sound, and it makes the job of the narrator impossible because that sound is going to be different for every reader.

Some of the issues with the audiobook, however, did relate to a poor choice of narrator. First, she’s made Stephanie sound older than we presume her to be, and missed entirely on Steph’s trademark exasperated good nature. Connie’s cartoonish jersey accent felt like it was laid on a little thick, and Lula was for some reason given an accent that sounds vaguely southern. And in general, the narrator’s delivery deadened a lot of the humor. Yikes.

Overall, any Stephanie Plum book is going to be a winner with me. I’m still very attached to the characters and the spirit of the story, and unlike many readers, I’m not eager for it to end. As for the audiobook versions, though? Never again.

Evanovich has written a four-star book here, but the narrator gets 1.5 stars at most.