More Guilty Pleasure Reads!

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Chloe, an essayist and book-lover, shares her choice in guilty pleasure reading.

As an English Masters Graduate, my reading inventory has become a cacophony of varied, diverse and at times, frankly impressive reads.  The University of Birmingham forced my hand (and eye) to the likes of James Joyce, Wyndham Lewis and Henry James.  Whilst I cannot deny the air of arrogance that I enjoy at the odd pub quiz as the obligatory literary question arises, I must reveal my reprehensible, embarrassing and exceedingly guilty pleasure that is Stephanie Plum.

Plum is the creation of Janet Evanovich, a 40-something from Jersey. The all-American Heroine is based in Evanovich’s own hometown (a short subway trip and yet a far cry from its neighbour, the cultural melting pot of New York).  If Stephanie Plum is intended as at all autobiographical, then I would very much like to buy Evanovich a drink (purely for the swoon worthy sexual exploits of our protagonist).  I believe the Plum series has now reached the dizzying heights of its sixteenth edition under the positively cringe-worthy title of Sizzling Sixteen, the original, entitled One for the Money having been published in 1994.

I myself did not come across the novels for some six years later at the age of thirteen. One for the Money was recommended to me by what I can now assume to be a randy fifty-year old with a penchant for cheap crime thrillers with a generous helping of racy encounters. We first meet Plum as a young divorcee: jobless, helpless and somewhat pathetic. Through sheer bribery (and absolute suspension of disbelief), Stephanie secures the position of Bounty Hunter at her cousin’s Bail Bonds company (we don’t have these in Britain, but they sound like a lot of fun). The result of such a career move is actually not a bad string of crime thrillers.  The plots are admittedly somewhat repetitive and perhaps a tad simplistic, but they provide enough stimulation to suffice on a day when your brain has actually turned to mush.

Now for the important bit: Stephanie’s on-again-off-again relationships (that’s right, plural) with Jersey cop, Morelli (for the movie, think a Latino Brad Pitt) and fellow Bounty Hunter, Ranger (that bloke who plays Strider in the Lord of the Rings films).  Evanovich keeps Stephanie’s availability, morals (and legs) open throughout the entire series as we are continually kept guessing; who will she choose???

At times, I find myself reading Evanovich’s novels purely for the titillating Morelli-Ranger encounters and thanks to the anonymous covers, unlike a Jilly Cooper novel I can read them on the train without feeling like a raging pervert. Indeed, the Stephanie Plum novels may be my very very very guilty pleasure, but regardless, I return to them time and time again when my head hurts too much to tackle Ulysses. Definitely one to recommend (with a degree of subtlety, of course).