Book ~ "Twisted Twenty-Six" (2019) Janet Evanovich

From Goodreads ~ Grandma Mazur is a widow ... again. This time her marriage lasted a whole 45 minutes. The unlucky groom was one Jimmy Rosolli, local gangster, lothario (senior division) and heart attack waiting to happen ... well, the waiting's over.

It's a sad day but if she can't have Jimmy at least Grandma can have all the attention she wants as the dutiful widow. But some kinds of attention are not welcomed, particularly when Jimmy's former "business partners" are convinced that his widow is keeping the keys to their financial success for herself.

As someone who has spent an entire career finding bad guys, a set of missing keys should be no challenge for Stephanie Plum. Problem is, the facts are as twisted as a boardwalk pretzel with mustard.

Stephanie's grandmother has just gotten married to a mobster named Jimmy, who passes away 45 minutes later in a casino. His ex-wife isn't happy because now she's been cut out of the will. His mobster friends aren't happy because he had the keys to a fortune and they figure he had given them to Grandma. What keys?! But he didn't but that doesn't stop everyone from coming after Grandma to get them.

Stephanie works for her bail bondsman cousin, Vinnie, and is questioning her life.  Lulu is a former 'ho who works with her. As usual, they have a couple people they have to track down who didn't show up for their court date. Stephanie and Joe, a police officer, are still together and Ranger, her former colleague, is still hot and lusting after Stephanie, which is tempting her.

This is the 26th in the Stephanie Plum series and I've read them all. As in previous books, Evanovich continues to follow her formula:

• Stephanie is lusting after Morelli and Ranger ... check
• Lulu talks about food all the time and talks about going on a diet ... check
• Stephanie goes home to mooch meals from her parents ... check
• Ranger calls Stephanie "Babe" and just wants to have sex with her with no commitment ... check
• Ranger has his employees tail Stephanie to keep her out of trouble ... check
• Something happens to Stephanie's car so Ranger lends her a nice one ... check

I liked this book better than the last few.  It was nice to see Stephanie's dad do more than just grunt, eat, watch TV and want to kill Grandma.  It's written in first person perspective from Stephanie's point of view. There is some swearing and adult situations.  Since it's basically the same story over and over, though, I stopped buying these books a long time ago and now borrow them from the library. It's a mindless familiar read.