Two for the Dough (1996)

Since her chosen vocation is ''fugitive apprehension agent'' (translation: bounty hunter), it's inconvenient that Stephanie Plum is uncomfortable with weapons. Since she's fairly squeamish, it's also inconvenient that embalmed body parts keep turning up in her mailbox and jacket pockets. Somehow, though, Plum is determined to nail her latest, regrettably uncompelling assignment: tracking down 24 missing empty caskets and bail jumper Kenny Mancuso. Two for the Dough, Janet Evanovich's sequel to One for the Money, revisits hardscrabble Trenton, N.J., and the local color is a bit too forcibly hued. The dialogue has a mechanical, insular feel, and the plot twists don't add up to much, but the saucy Plum remains a heroine worth her Mace. C+