Before You Press Play
- Narrator: Lorelei King has narrated the Stephanie Plum series for years, and her comic timing is precisely calibrated to Evanovich's rhythms; the pauses land, the voices are distinct, and she makes the ice cream factory scenes funnier than they'd read on the page.
- Subjects: chaotic investigation, love triangle, comic violence
- Tone: Brisk and cheerful, with a running thread of absurdity
- Bottom line: Lorelei King's narration remains the audiobook's strongest asset, and the ice cream factory setting gives Evanovich fresh comic territory to work with.
Stephanie Plum's twenty-third case begins with a frozen corpse dipped in chocolate and pecans, and Janet Evanovich knows exactly how to deploy that image. Turbo Twenty-Three, the audiobook edition narrated by the long-serving Lorelei King, runs six hours and thirteen minutes and lands Plum inside an ice cream factory as an undercover operative for her mentor Ranger while someone is sabotaging the business and murdering employees. The core comic machinery of the Stephanie Plum series is fully operational here: the inept-but-resourceful bounty hunter, the two compelling men she can't choose between, and the supporting cast of Trenton oddballs who escalate every situation past reasonable limits.
Evanovich has a specific contract with her readers at this point in the series: each book delivers the same emotional satisfactions in a new setting. The formula is not accidental; it's a feature. Turbo Twenty-Three uses the ice cream factory to generate a fresh round of Plum-gets-into-trouble setpieces while Ranger's undercover assignment introduces the additional complication of professional obligation alongside romantic tension. The dead-man-in-the-freezer inciting image is one of Evanovich's more inspired visual gags: chocolate-dipped, pecan-crusted, and unmistakably pointing at an industrial crime that would only happen in a small-scale dessert operation. The investigation logic is light by design, as this is not a procedural, but it holds together well enough to justify Plum's presence in the factory, and that's the level of plot architecture the series requires.
The Ranger-versus-Morelli dynamic hits its expected notes. Ranger is competent, controlled, and perpetually close at hand; Morelli is the local cop who functions as the series' grounding relationship; and Plum is caught between them with no resolution in sight. After twenty-three books, Evanovich is clearly not interested in resolving this love triangle, and the question for listeners at this point is whether the irresolution has become comfortable or frustrating. For longtime fans, comfortable. For newcomers, it may register as an issue. Hendricks Book Reviews, borrowing the book from a spouse's shelf, calls it 'another fun and amusing story with all the regular characters present' and 'a light read, simply to be enjoyed.' That expectation-setting is accurate and generous: the book delivers precisely what it promises to readers who already love the series.
What Stands Out
Lorelei King is the answer. She has narrated this series through most of its run, and by this point her performance is less a reading than an inhabitation. Her Grandma Mazur is a distinct entity; her Lula has a rhythm that makes the character funnier in audio than on the page; her Plum strikes the precise balance between hapless and confident that the character requires. Comedy narration is genuinely difficult: the timing of a pause before a punchline is something that has to be felt rather than calculated, and King has clearly developed an instinct for how Evanovich's jokes are constructed. When Plum observes something absurd about the factory's operations or delivers an internal aside about her lack of marketable skills, King's delivery gives it the extra beat that makes it land.
At just over six hours, this is an efficient listening experience. The Stephanie Plum audiobooks function particularly well on a commute or as accessible entertainment that demands moderate attention rather than total focus. Listeners familiar with the series will find Turbo Twenty-Three delivers what it promises: another comfortable circuit around Plum's world, a neatly resolved mystery, and an unresolved personal life that leaves room for book twenty-four. The ice cream setting also generates a recurring motif of indulgence versus discipline that runs quietly under the comedy. Plum is surrounded by dessert she is professionally expected to resist; she is also surrounded by two relationships she cannot bring herself to commit to or abandon. Evanovich doesn't press the metaphor hard, but it's there, and it's one of the ways the book transcends its most surface-level comic construction.
Things to Know Before Starting Turbo Twenty-Three
The factory setting introduces a small cast of supporting workers whose escalating hazards provide the structural escalation the series relies on. Each Plum installment needs to keep raising the stakes of its central chaos, and the employees here provide useful fuel. The investigation also puts Plum into professional proximity with Ranger in a way that slightly complicates the usual dynamic: she is technically working for him, which introduces a layer of professional obligation into their relationship that typically operates entirely on personal terms. Evanovich handles this lightly, but it adds a dimension worth noticing.
First-time listeners should be aware that the series' romantic irresolution is structural, not accidental. If you arrive at book twenty-three hoping to see Plum finally choose between Ranger and Morelli, you will be disappointed. That open question is the engine that has kept the series running for decades, and Evanovich has given no indication that she intends to resolve it.
Best Suited For
Series listeners who have followed Plum through the previous twenty-two entries are the obvious audience and will find this a reliable addition. Newcomers can technically start here since the case is self-contained, but without the accumulated affection for the recurring cast, the comedy lands slightly lighter, and the love triangle reads as an unresolved problem rather than a running joke the series has earned the right to keep open. The audiobook format specifically suits listeners who already know King's voice work and want to hear her navigate the factory material. Listeners who want to start the series from the beginning will find that King's narration has been consistent across the run, making the early books an accessible entry point that leads naturally to this installment. Anyone who finds the series' irresolution on the Ranger-Morelli question genuinely aggravating may find that particular frustration does not ease at book twenty-three.
Can I listen to the Turbo Twenty-Three audiobook without having read earlier Stephanie Plum books?
Technically yes; the mystery plot is self-contained and Evanovich recaps relationships economically. But the comedy in the series is cumulative: the recurring cast's absurdity pays off harder when you've seen them across multiple books. First-timers can follow the story but will miss some of the long-game pleasure.
How does Lorelei King's narration handle the comedy in this audiobook?
Exceptionally well. King has narrated the Stephanie Plum series for years and her comic timing is one of the format's key assets. Her Grandma Mazur, Lula, and Ranger are fully realized distinct voices, and she understands how Evanovich constructs jokes well enough to let the pauses do the right work.
Is this audiobook part of an ongoing series or does it work as a standalone mystery?
It works as a self-contained mystery: the ice cream factory case resolves within the book. But the series' personal storylines involving Ranger, Morelli, and Plum's career are ongoing and don't resolve here or elsewhere. Evanovich has run this series open-ended by design.
At six hours, is this one of the shorter Stephanie Plum audiobooks?
Yes, it's on the shorter end for the series. The Stephanie Plum audiobooks typically run between six and nine hours, so this installment is efficient. The pacing is brisk; Evanovich doesn't linger in the factory setting beyond what the comedy requires.
