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352 pages, Paperback
First published November 12, 2019
It's impressive that the 24th outing has much the same cast with much the same personalities and much the same plot and action as the first few outings did, with little or no discernible "character development" over all this time. Can you imagine any of the main characters maturing or becoming older and wiser? The books would stop being fun, because it's Stephanie, Lula, Morelli, Ranger, Mom, Dad, and Grandma Mazur exactly as they are, doing exactly the kinds of things they do, that makes my annual visit to the Burg something I really look forward to. They make a classic comedy septet, and they haven't lost their spark.And from Look Alive Twenty-Five:
In particular, Stephanie's relationships with Morelli, the solid cop from her working-class neighborhood, and Ranger, the totally unrealistic fantasy alpha hero abstracted from countless romantic thrillers, have to remain undecided for the tension to work for adventure that's just comic enough--not too many laughs, not too few.
To describe her ongoing relationships with men I really need to invent a new word: sesqui-amorous. (Like sesquicentennial for a 150-year anniversary.) That's because, here as in previous installments, she and Morelli the cop are totally girlfriend and boyfriend while she has enormous attraction to both men and loads of Meaningful Contact (both action and romance) with Ranger, who with his team comes as close to a fantasy vigilante superhero as you can get without going supernatural.So is this a sesqui-harem? Quoting Stephanie from the present book:
Morelli and Ranger tolerate each other. Their professional paths frequenty cross, and there are times when it's advantageous to share information and skills. Like now. In an odd way I was the link between the two men, and I was also the wedge that drove them apart. Morelli thought Ranger was a loose cannon and not to be entirely trusted. I have no idea what Ranger thought of Morelli.Well, folks, this time around there is one development. Grandma Mazur utters words of wisdom again and again; either her experience with Jimmy has deepened her philosophically or Stephanie has undergone character development in that she realizes for the first time she has a traditional wise woman for a grandmother!