Evanovich seems to be creating a spinoff series to her popular Stephanie Plum. Readers will now get a chance to learn a bit more about Diesel, who has played a big role in the non-numbered books from that series.

The protagonist for this new series is Lizzy Tucker a Southern transplant who is settling into her Great Aunt Ophelia's home, which she just inherited, near Salem, Massachusetts. It would seem to be a most appropriate location since Lizzy is about to find that her life is enmeshed with the supernatural, something that has made the city famous all across America. She quickly lands a job in a local bakery thanks to her masterful cupcake creations, but it is those cupcakes that really seem to capture the attention of Diesel when he comes to town.

Diesel is, in fact, an agent for the Board of Unmentionable Marshalls, otherwise known as BUM. For those of you not already in the know, Unmentionables are folks with magical skills. They can take on many forms. For Lizzy, her it is her cupcake making abilities. While that would seem less-than-important to all but gastronomes, she is one of only two people who also have the ability to find empowered objects. Diesel, as well as his nemesis Wulf, are both hoping to use this ability to hunt down the Seven Stones of Power. While Diesel is hoping she'll help, Wulf has every intention of making her do so.

The Seven Stones of Power are tied to the Seven Deadly Sins, and controlling all of them will give the owner ultimate power. Diesel's arrival in Salem is due to the fact that the gluttaony stone is in the area, owned by a well-established family in the community. The problem is no one seems to really know where the stone is because the clues to its location was left to 4 heirs by a family member who died. Each heir was told that to reveal the clues would bring a curse down upon them. So, mum is the word from them.

Evanovich has done a nice job of mirroring all the successful traits that have made the Stephanie Plum series so popular. Lizzy is a nice everywoman that readers can connect with, and she is also surrounded by a fun cast of characters, including:

*Glo, a witch-in-training who is using a spell book she found (badly) to self-teach the craft with her spells going terribly wrong
*Cat 7143, a one-eyed ninja cat from the local shelter who seems to be more than what he is
*Carl, a monkey that will be familiar to some of Diesel's earlier appearances

Diesel and Lizzy also carry the same sort of sexual-tension that he shared with Stephanie. The difference is that when two Unmentionables get together, one of them loses their powers so doing anything is quite the no-no. That doesn't prevent them from including some serious flirtation in their developing friendship/relationship

I am assuming the series is going to continue with the Seven Deadly sins theme, likely including Wicked this and Wicked that as the title. All I know is that I am really looking forward to them in spite of the fact that I have never liked Diesel as a character in the other series. He seems just perfect for this humorous, mystery romp.