Stephanie Plum Series (Review)

One for the Money - Finger Lickin' Fifteen
Janet Evanovich, 1996-2009

Book Review bY Molly Lundquist
November 2009
Stephanie Plum is hilarious. Or maybe it's Evanovich who's funny—I'm not sure. Stephanie Plum is so real it's hard to believe she's merely a character in a series.

If you haven't read Janet Evanovich's mysteries, you're in for a treat. Though it's not necessary, you might as well start at the beginning—with One for the Money...or Two for the Dough...or Three to Get Deadly...and so on.

Sadly, by the time Evanovich reaches Lean Mean Thirteen, Fearless Fourteen and Finger Lickin' Fifteen a lot of critics think she's wrung out the same cloth too many times. Her hi-jinks seem a little tired, and plots resort to Hollywood gimmickry—fires, explosions, and crude language. So stick with the earlier books, say 1 through 7, 8 or 9.

Stephanie is a bounty hunter from a solid working-class neighborhood in Trenton, New Jersey, who frequently finds herself on the trail of low-lifes and marginally reputable folk. Her family is in for the count: a mother who meddles and a grandmother "two cans short of a pack." Stephanie herself is a comic miracle...a mouth that goes a mile a minute and a tendency to leave behind more messes than fixes.

But if you like your detective work light, or you're looking for an escape from heavier lifting, this mad-cap series may be the perfect tonic. There are no reading guides for the any books in the series...c'mon...just have fun with this! It's almost impossible not to.