I love a good mystery. Some mystery's sparkle because of the story, others because they have great characters. Janet Evanovich's series on Stephanie Plum, bond enforcement agent, has both. But what really makes it shine are the characters. I just finished her most current Hard Eight. Will you like it, here is some dialogue from the story to help you decide.

Vinnie and Stephanie: Vinnie is Stephanie's boss.

Vinnie was bent at the waist, sucking air. "Why are we chasing a rabbit?"
"It's the rabbit who firebombed my CR-V,"
"Oh yeah. Now I remember. I should have asked sooner. I would have stayed in the car. Jesus, I can't believe you got off a shot hanging out the window. Who do you think you are, the Terminator? Christ, your mother would have my nuts if she knew you did that. What were you thinking"
"I got excited"
"You weren't excited. You were berserk!"

Lula x-prostitute and sometime sidekick, not a fat chick but rather a big women:

"yeah she almost never shoots anyone," Lula said.
"And I don't care anyway. I'm getting out of here. I need mall air. I could breathe better if I had mall air."

Grandma Mazur telling Stephanie about her trip to the mortuary:

"I went to the Shleckner viewing," Grandma said. "I'm telling you, that Stiva is a genius. When it comes to morticians, you can't beat Stiva. You know how old Shleckner had all those big scabby things on his face? Well, Stiva covered them all somehow. And you couldn't even tell Shleckner had a glass eye. They both look just the same. It was a miracle."
"How do you know about the glass eye? Didn't they have his eyes closed?"
"yeah but they have come open for a second while I was standing there. It might have happened when I accidentally dropped my reading glass into the casket"

Ranger and Stephanie: Ranger is batman with an attitude and all his own rules.

I dialed Ranger first thing the next morning. "About that security system," I said.
"Are you still having visitors?"
"I found a rabbit suit in my closet last night."
"Anybody in it?"
"Nope just the suit"
"I'll send Hector."
"Hector scares the hell out of me."
"Yeah me, too," Ranger said. "But he hasn't killed anybody in over a year now. And he's gay. You're probably safe."

"Whats wrong?" Ranger asked.
"The door won't open."
"Probably just a programming glitch. Do you have the keypad?"
I dropped the keypad into his hand.
Ranger and Hector looked down at the keypad . They looked up at each other, exchanged raised eyebrows, and smiled.
"I think I see the problem," Ranger said. "Someone shot the shit out of this keypad." He turned it over in his hand. "At least you were able to hit it. Nice to know the target practice paid off."

Joe Morelli: Cop, first looked up Stephanie dress at age six never got over it.

Morelli closed and locked his front door and turned the lights off. "Maybe you should consider taking a less dangerous job, like human cannonball or crash test dummy." "You were worried about me." "Yeah," Morelli said, gathering me unto him. " I was worried about you." He held me close and rested his cheek on my head.

If you haven't read anything by Evanovich before I suggest you start with her first Stephanie Plum, "One For The Money".