Two for the Dough (Stephanie Plum, No. 2) (Stephanie Plum Novels)

by Janet Evanovich

1996

Status

Available

Publication

Pocket Books (1996), 336 pages

Description

Fiction. Mystery. Humor (Fiction.) HTML:Two for the Dough is irresistibly fun and powerful suspense entertainment featuring beloved bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, from #1 New York Times bestselling and acclaimed author Janet Evanovich. It's the return of Stephanie Plum, New Jersey's "fugitive apprehension" agent (a.k.a. bounty hunter), introduced to us in the award-winning and bestselling novel One for the Money. Now Stephanie's back, armed with attitudeâ??not to mention stun guns, defense sprays, killer flashlights, and her trusty .38, Stephanie is after a new bail jumper, Kenny Mancuso, a boy from Trenton's burg. He's fresh out of the army, suspiciously wealthy, and he's just shot his best friend. With her bounty hunter pal Ranger stepping in occasionally to advise her, Stephanie staggers knee-deep in corpses and caskets as she traipses through back streets, dark alleys, and funeral parlors. And nobody knows funeral parlors better than Stephanie's irrepressible Grandma Mazur, a lady whose favorite pastime is grabbing a front-row seat at a neighborhood wake. So, Stephanie uses Grandma as a cover to follow leads, but loses control when Grandma warms to the action, packing a cool pistol. Much to the family's chagrin, Stephanie and Granny may soon have the elusive Kenny in their sights. Fast-talking, slow-handed vice cop Joe Morelli joins in the case, since the prey happens to be his young cousin. And if the assignment calls for an automobile stakeout for two with the woman who puts his libido in overdrive, Morelli's not one to object. Low on expertise but learning fast, high on resilience, and despite the help she gets from friends and relatives, Stephanie eventually must face the danger alone when embalmed body parts begin to arrive on her doorstep and she's targeted for a nasty death by the most loathsome adversary she's ever encountered. Another case like this and she'll be a real p… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member bragan
This is the second book in Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. In this one, neophyte bounty hunter Plum goes after a guy accused of kneecapping his buddy and takes a side job involving tracking down some missing coffins. Needless to say, it all gets more dangerous than anticipated.

I think I liked
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this one a little bit more than the first one. Partly that may be because I knew exactly what to expect from it going in, but it also had some very dark humor that actually made me laugh in places, which One for the Money didn't so much. Still, like the first one, this can only be described as "brain candy." And, honestly, it's not even really high-quality brain candy. It's like the literary equivalent of Circus Peanuts. But, god help me, I can eat a whole bag of those things.
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LibraryThing member Rumpeltje
Although I did like this book I wasn't wild about it. It's funny but if you've read the first book in the Stephanie Plum series, One for the Money, it's predictable.

As before Stephanie gets a job to find a someone who skipped bail, Kenny Mancuso, and is suspected of murdering his best friend. It's
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a job which, to begin with, is too big for Stephanie's limited experience but she needs money. Together with the help of policman Joe Morelli and colleague Ranger she goes after Mancosu but becomes one of his targets himself. The second storyline deals with Stiva's funeral parlor when undertaker Spira Stivo asks Stephanie to find a shipment of caskets that has been stolen.

Each character has it's own function. One of the most prominent is grandma Mazur, who tries to help Stephanie, but is actually more interested in the morbid details of the investigation. One of her roles is to be a comic relief but after a while she started to irritate me a bit with her antics.

As I've said before this feels too much like a rehash of the first novel in the series. Stephanie has to find someone to get money, becomes a target of that person herself, she needs help of one or two men to solve the problem and not be killed.
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LibraryThing member mybooksmylove
My Rating: B+

Two For the Dough was a bit better than One for the Money. I found that it kept my interest but I still had some issues with Ms. Evanovich's writing. While the characters are awesome, and full of charisma, she has a tendency to leave the scenes open ended. Often I found that Stephanie
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starts a scene with another character with her, and then when the scene ends, you're not quite sure how she ended up by herself again.

Other than this little flaw, I really enjoyed the book. The mystery is always fun and the characters are so full of life, you can't help but read more. I was also pleased with the way that Joe Morelli acted in this one, he's a nice little road block for our Miss Plum.

I recommend this book to those who've read the first one, and to anyone looking for a light quick read.
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LibraryThing member annaleeblysse
And the story continues... I'm absolutely having a great time reading about the developing relationship between Stephanie Plum and Joe Morelli. (Enough that I read the last page of the book before I started, which is not something I have done since I was a child. By the way, it didn't ruin the
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story.) The secondary characters in this novel are well-rounded within the context of this story, but getting to know them over the past two books has been fun. I get a kick out of Grandma Mazur. Let me just say that the whole "Bobbsey Twin" thing really added something to the story. I even "enjoyed" reading about the creepy Spiro and crazy Kenny, but only because all the humor kept me laughing despite the morbid/dark moments. This is a great book for readers who enjoy laughing, a mystery, and a bit of romance. I must get the third book!
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LibraryThing member Alera
I officially love these books. I read through them in less than a day. They are easy yet I get sucked in while reading. I laugh throughout. And I honestly think the writing is good. It twists, it turns...if Harry Dresden were female...a bounty hunter...and had no magical skill....he would be
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Stephanie. Because both of them...just seem to like trouble. Though admittedly Harry can more often than not get out of his own messes. Stephanie calls in Morelli who I love even more. LOVE!!!!
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LibraryThing member celticstar
An enjoyable read. Grandma Mazur made me laugh out loud a couple of times :)
LibraryThing member mrgreg
This author needs to include a box of Depends with the sale of each book. You pee yourself laughing at the antics of Stephanie Plum and her cohorts!
LibraryThing member Jthierer
I'm reading along in this funny, if not terribly clever novel and I encounter this line: "By one o'clock Mrs. Mayer would be alone, wondering what she was going to do rattling around in the family home by herself for the rest of her life." I don't go to Evanovich for moving, profound reading, but I
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have a feeling that line will stay with me awhile.
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LibraryThing member bastet
Another in the great series of hilarious Stephanie Plum novels. The romance is good, too.
LibraryThing member carrjr
Stephanie is after Kenny Mancuso who's been accused of shooting his former best friend & is a gas station attendant. Spiro hires Stephanie to find 24 caskets that are missing.
LibraryThing member Lolitabonita
Evanovich's style is very conversational and forward and it works so well creating the character Stephanie Plum. I definitely think this series gets better the further one reads into it. I love the sexual tension, the little quips, and the way the family and various characters are so easy to
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picture. The plot goes by smoothly and quickly with several hilarious points in between. Definitely a great beach read.
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LibraryThing member randirousseau
Again - fabulous! Laugh-out-loud funny, Stephanie Plum must use her wit and humor to solve another mystery and bounty hunt. This time her target is a psychotic gun runner and his partners, keep her Grandma Mazur safe, and ward off the wiles of cop Joe Morelli. Mystery, mayhem and a lot of fun.
LibraryThing member kellyoliva
I was much more impressed with this book vs. the first book in the series. I highly recommend this book to an adult female who enjoys mysteries. Stephanie Plum is a quirky, fun main character with a sex life that kept this reader in stitches!
LibraryThing member bellalibrarian
I am thoroughly enjoying this series. Newly-minted bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum returns in Evanovich's second book to track down more FTAs (Failure to Appear). In addition to the many humorous situations surrounding Plum, she is also joined by some familiar faces from the first book. I love these!
LibraryThing member readingrat
This series is both the best Evanovich I've read and the best I've read of this genre - this installment doesn't disappoint. I absolutely love Grandma Mazur!
LibraryThing member irishwasherwoman
Overall this was a fun mystery. The expanded role for Grandma Mazur and Mrs. Plum’s angst over just about everything in Stephanie’s life really added a lot to the book in terms of its readability. Without them, this story would have been a carbon copy of the first with simply a change in names
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and crimes
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LibraryThing member craneflat
I love the Stephanie Plum series! I read each one as they come out. My friend turned me on to this series by giving me the first three books for Hannukah one year. I almost didn't make it through the first book because the writing is not the best, but my friend had raved about these books so much
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that I forced myself to finish one. By the end of "One for the Money" I was hooked because the characters are hilarious! Grandma always makes me laugh and I just love all of Stephanie's adventures. I have tried to read other books by this author and haven't liked them at all.
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LibraryThing member miyurose
I'm really liking this series. Very amusing and entertaining.
LibraryThing member kikilon
I read this one fairly quickly, and I can't decide whether I like it or not. I don't have the patience for mysteries and howdunnits/whodunnits, so I fetl I had to race through the book. I still enjoy the dialogue, but the whole book is very borderline to me. It coooouuuuld tip over at any second. I
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love her Grandma Mazur though. And her dad. The dad rocks.
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LibraryThing member bleached
The riotous sequel to One For The Money. Absolutely spell-binding as Stephanie's simple case of picking up a FTA (Failed To Appear) becomes complicated when he's no where to be found and is asked to find 24 missing caskets. This is one of the best series I've ever read.
LibraryThing member shanyn
I read mystery novels for a few weeks and decided that I wanted to read a chick lit book - in steps Jane Green. I had heard many good things about her as an author, and have been following her on Twitter, so I looked around for a book recommended by many people - I found that Jemima J seemed to be
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mentioned most. It took me a chapter or two to get into Jane Green's style of writing (she uses commas a lot more than I'm used to, interestingly enough), but after that I got interested in the story. After the basic plot was revealed, I had a hard time believing it, but I was far enough in that I had some attachment to Jemima, the main character. The end events turned my thoughts more positive about the entire book, because everything didn't end up exactly like I expected it to. I liked it enough to pick up another Jane Green book at the library, and am glad I have several more Green books available to read.
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LibraryThing member jo-jo
This was another enjoyable installment of the Stephanie Plum mystery series. As I listen to these books in my car I often wonder what people think about me if they happen to catch me just laughing away all by myself! I know that a laugh has been provoked during every sitting.

The little jobs at the
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bonding agency just haven't been paying the bills for Stephanie, so she decides to try some bigger prey by tracking down Kenny Mancuso. While she is searching for Mancuso she also finds herself trying to track down twenty four missing caskets. What better place to start looking for caskets than funeral homes? Since Grandma Mazur enjoys attending wakes so much, especially afternoon viewings, Stephanie enlists Grandma's help by attending almost every funeral together in the burg.

Stephanie finds herself working quite closely with Joe Morelli again, and actually welcomes his company because of the non-existent love life that she leads. It so happens that Morelli is a cousin to Mancuso and Stephanie learns a lot about Mancuso's personality that is quite unnerving. Mancuso is mentally unstable and who knows what he is capable of if he were pushed too far. Old ladies like Grandma Mazur are not even off-limits as far as that psychopath is concerned.

Throughout the book, a few body parts happen to show up in unfortunate places. This definitely adds an element of surprise, and believe it or not-humor. The end of the book was quite suspenseful, as even my favorite character, Grandma Mazur, found herself in a life threatening situation. It was certainly interesting to find out what criminals were involved in this scheme besides Kenny Mancuso.

This was definitely a fun and engaging one to listen to and I can't wait until I get a chance to listen to the third audiobook. Things get quite close between Morelli and Stephanie once again, but it looks like we will have to wait for future installments to see if a relationship really develops at all.
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LibraryThing member mmillet
Evanovich continues to dish out hilarity in this second Stephanie Plum novel. I love that Stephanie still makes mistakes but goes with them and usually turns them to her advantage. Grandma Mazur gets more screen time in this book and I couldn't have been happier. She. Is. A. Hoot. Why is it that
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her scenes involving guns always leave me in stitches?!I think I'm going to burn through this series rather quickly...
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LibraryThing member jjnaaucoin
I didn't love this one like the 1st one...but it was a good read, drug out a bit though. I hope the 3rd one picks up a little bit like the first one did. I wanted to prove all those reviewers wrong that said it wasn't as interesting, but I can only agree. I am glad we got a more in depth look at
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Grandma though.
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LibraryThing member SuzReads
Great book! The 2nd book in the Stephanie Plum series and another winner. Fast pace, great characters and plenty of action made this book an enjoyable, quick read. I liked the addition of her fearless pistol packing Grandma as a sidekick in this one - certainly kept things interesting! I am looking
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forward to reading the other books in the series and would definitely recommend them!
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1996-06-01

Physical description

336 p.; 6.9 inches

ISBN

0671001795 / 9780671001797

Barcode

1600892
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