Wicked Business by Janet Evanovich (2012)

I needed something light between Steve Jobs' lengthy biography, and I hadn't read any Evanovich for a while, so I thought I would try this new series with some characters that we met in the Stephanie Plum series. For a while I thought oh no, this is so like the other ones, a bit too obnoxious, but then she drew me in and I actually didn'tmind it, though I don't expect to pick up another one of her books for a while.

This is the Lizzy and Diesel series located in the Boston area, as opposed to Trenton, NJ. Again, Boston are the surrounding area is part of the plot, various neighborhoods are described including Dartmouth in NH. Lizzy has the same energy as Stephanie Plum, except she actually does have a skill set - she is a pastry chef - and a regular job - at a bakery. She has the same kind of pluck and Plum, but has some mystical powers to sense magical objects. This makes her valuable to Diesel, who is a hunk with mystical powers to sense and deal with magical beings. He has a pet monkey Carl and a cousin Wolf, also with powers, but he tends to use them for evil and power hungry purposes. I have met Diesel, Wolf and Carl in one of the Stephanie Plum books, I do not remember Lizzy. Lizzy and Diesel have this strong attraction to each other, but have to keep hands off each other, as if they get involved, one of them will lose their power, and they are unable to predict which one.

This is the second book in the series, and it looks like the structure of the series will be to find a set of seven magical and powerful stones. They have found one in the first book, this time they are looking for the stone of love or is it lust. It starts with a murder of a professor who was studying a certain poet, who apparently left a series of clues to the stone. Some of the clues need a certain type of person to see them - like someone who believes in true love, or someone pure of heart. I liked the clues, the setting. Of course nasty Wolf and his minion Hatchet are also after the stone, as is some crazy woman named Anarchy. Part of the mix is Lizzy's friend and cute space cadet Glow and her boss at the bakery Clara. Most of Evanovich's characters are such exaggerations, as to produce a lot of eye rolling on my part. I am not sure I care for the magical/mystical world construct in this series. When Nora Roberts incorporates magic, it is usually more believable to me. But all in all, a quick fun read.