"Plum Spooky"

By Janet Evanovich

St. Martin's Press. 320 Pages. $27.95

What better way to spend a lazy winter afternoon than curled up with a good mystery?

I admit I am addicted to a whodunit, preferably set in an otherwise quiet English village. Recently such a book came across my desk. Alas, it is not nestled in a picturesque village in the British Isles.

"Plum Spooky" is by bestselling author Janet Evanovich, and is one of her Stephanie Plum "between-the-numbers" novels.

If you have read one of aforementioned Evanovich's tales, you know what to expect. The prose is what I call the 3-S type: smart, swift, sassy. (And Stephanie Plum is one sassy bail bonds enforcement agent!)

"Plum Spooky" finds Stephanie inheriting Carl the monkey for a fortnight, an association that somewhat complicates her on-and-off relationship with her main hunk, Diesel. Together the trio cover the cranberry bogs and barrens of New Jersey in hunt of Munch, Wulf and a trove of lethal stolen rockets.

The hunt is dubiously successful, and Plum and Diesel eagerly return to the activity they both love best. Carl the monkey, meanwhile, has returned to his rightful owner. End of story.

For a mindless, cheerful couple of hours, "Plum Spooky" is your read.