Book Review: Curious Minds by Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton

"Curious Minds" by Janet Evanovich
Book 1 in the Knight and Moon series
First published in 2016
323 pages
My rating: 3 out of 5

The Short Of It:
Typical Janet Evanovich: nothing mind-blowing, but a quick, fun diversion.

The Long Of It:
Janet Evanovich is one of the few fluff authors in my life. I will stick with Stephanie Plum through the end (even though the end should probably have come already), I actually really like the Wicked books, and I enjoyed "Curious Minds" enough that I'll continue with the new Knight and Moon series when the next installment comes out. Sometimes a lighthearted, easy, silly book is just what I need, and Janet almost always comes through.

"Curious Minds" is a sort of action/slight mystery/humor blend that involves investigating a plot to steal gold from both the Federal Reserve and private individuals and replace it with fakes. Yeah, ok. What really carried the book was the characters.

Riley Moon is a Texas girl with degrees from Harvard Business and Harvard Law who just started work as a junior analyst for the biggest banking corporation in the world. She doesn't have any of the Stephanie Plum ditziness to her -- she's bright and capable but still completely likable. She rolls with all the craziness, she's a crack shot with a gun, and she favors bacon cheeseburgers and the expression "crap on a cracker." And one of her first assignments at Blane-Grunwald is to babysit eccentric millionaire Emerson Knight as he looks into the disappearance of the firm employee who was managing his gold.

Emerson's father recently died and Emerson inherited the family pile, Mysterioso Manor, and all that comes with it, like a free-roaming menagerie of animals including zebras, a capybara and an armadillo. He's incredibly handsome and extremely smart in an out-of-the-box way, but not so hot with people and common sense. He oozes a sort of utterly wacky charm that was impossible not to fall in love with.

The two form an unlikely detective duo as they look into what could possibly the world's biggest monetary conspiracy, and their investigation takes them from Washington, D.C., to New York to Area 51 in Nevada. There's plenty of danger, there are some kooky and lovable characters, and of course there's a sprinkling of romantic tension.

In typical Evanovich fashion, this was a super-quick read and I had it done in a day and half. If you're looking for a fast, fun, fluffy new series to start, you might enjoy following Knight and Moon on their first adventure.