For the Janet Evanovich fan...

My very good friend and fellow blogger, Lesa Holstine, is offering up the suggestions today. I'm so pleased to share her thoughts with you. Not only did she take time from her own blog and job and pets and...you get the idea...but she's an amazing librarian who's made a career of recommending books. Here she is to offer up a suggestion for your Janet Evanovich reader:


If readers enjoy Janet Evanovich, they'll probably like reading K.J. Larsen. Hot men. Murder. Funny family scenes. Eccentric sidekicks. That's not Stephanie Plum. That's a description of Cat DeLuca in Larsen's Liar, Liar, and the second book, Sticks & Stones. Cat is a street-smart woman who runs her own business, the Pants on Fire Detective Agency. Motto—"We catch Liars and Cheats."

Cat comes from a large Italian family of Chicago cops, and was expected to marry one. Instead, after her marriage to a "philandering liar" ended, she apprenticed as a detective and opened her own agency specializing in catching cheating spouses.

Cat is a strong character, fighting against her family opinion. The books have humor, without being slapstick. And, it's hard to not salivate over the Italian food, particularly the cannoli. How does it compare to the Stephanie Plum books? The humor isn't as broad. Cat is more competent than Stephanie, although the men in her life don't think she is. The Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago is a perfect setting for these fun caper novels featuring an Italian American family, and the independent woman who is finding her own way, while keeping her family connections.