Eleven on Top is silly, but since it’s a Stephanie Plum mystery, silly is mandatory, so readers who want a non-silly mystery should pick up a P.D. James novel instead. Me – I like Stephanie and the gang, and I was in the mood for silliness. I found myself laughing a lot at this one.

Even a kick-ass bounty hunter gets tired of being tossed around, and when Stephanie ends up tangled with a bunch of trash bags, something snaps. A girl can only take so much junk in her hair, so Stephanie up and quits her job to the shock of Connie and Lula. Kicking asses may be satisfying, but there’s something to be said for a nice, safe office job and the button factory is hiring.

But this is Stephanie Plum we are talking about, and she gets fired for being late on the first day. So, she gets a job at the local dry cleaners. Does she get fired from that one? Do Jersey Girls have big hair? Desperate, Stephanie tries working at one of her favorite eating places – Cluck In A Bucket. About this point, I had to stop reading and change my shirt, which was wet from tears of laughter.

While job-hunting, Stephanie has been getting threatening notes from someone who claims Stephanie only thought he was dead. When the threats get physical (there goes yet another car), Morelli makes her move in with him. Morelli is investigating the case of four Trenton men who, together with their cars, have disappeared on the same day. During the course of the investigation, Morelli gets his leg broken, so he doesn’t make too much fuss when Stephanie finally finds a job with Rangeman Security. At least Ranger can keep her out of trouble (heh!)

Stephanie’s stalker turns out to be related to Morelli’s case and I was really surprised at who it turned out to be. Eleven On Top has a stronger mystery story than some of the titles in this series, but I seriously doubt that most people are going to read this book for the mystery. However, if you are in the mood for funny scenes, this book has one of the best. I’ll let you discover it on your own, but I’ll just say it involves Grandma Bella and Grandma Mazur at Stiva’s funeral home. Also, Stephanie’s perfect sister Valerie is about to marry Albert Kloughn, Sally Sweet is the wedding planner, Stephanie is supposed to play the cello at the wedding, Lula has taken Stephanie’s place as a bounty hunter, and more. The book abounds in silliness and for the most part, I reveled in it.

However, I wish that Janet Evanovich would just drop the whole Stephanie/Morelli/Ranger triangle. It isn’t resolved here, and I am getting tired of it dragging out book after book. Oh yes, please let Mary Alice quit thinking she is a horse. She has got to be the most annoying child on the face of the earth and I normally way tolerant of child characters.

Those quibbles aside, Eleven On Top is one of the most laugh out loud funny books I have read this year, and I recommend it to all fans of Stephanie and silliness in general.