One For The Money
Series: A Stephanie Plum Novel #1
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Page Count: 320
My Rating:
Book Summary
You’ve lost your job as a department store lingerie buyer, your car’s been repossessed, and most of your furniture and small appliances have been sold off to pay last month’s rent. Now the rent is due again. And you live in New Jersey. What do you do?
If you’re Stephanie Plum, you become a bounty hunter. But not just a nickel-and-dime bounty hunter; you go after the big money. That means a cop gone bad. And not just any cop. She goes after Joe Morelli, a disgraced former vice cop who is also the man who took Stephanie’s virginity at age 16 and then wrote details on a bathroom wall. With pride and rent money on the line, Plum plunges headlong into her first case, one that pits her against ruthless adversaries – people who’d rather kill than lose.
In Stephanie Plum, Evanovich has created a resourceful and humorous character who stands apart from the pack of gritty female detectives.
More Facts for Readers about our Sleuth:
Main Sleuth: Stephanie Plum (age early thirties)
Description: 5’7″, brown hair, blue eyes, tan skin,
Business: Discount lingerie buyer for E. E. Martin turned Bounty Hunter (for bail jumpers)
Pet: Rex, a hamster
Sidekick: Ranger, fellow Bounty Hunter
Love Interest: Jospeh Morelli, local vice cop
Family: Mom, Dad, Grandma Mazur, Cousin Vinnie
Location: Trenton, New Jersey
Time of year: August
Any Cussing? Yes, very few and in context.
My Review
Both my older sister and mother have read many Stephanie Plum novels and they encouraged me to join them so we could talk about the books together. So here I am! This isn’t my typical go-to cozy because it’s very action packed (hard and fast) and the main sleuth is a Jersey girl (there’s a good-spirited rivalry over here on the East Coast in the tri-state area). But I dived in am having a great time. I don’t identify with the Stephanie Plum character at all, but I don’t think that’s necessarily important in a cozy – I like donning the hat of characters unlike myself and seeing how a different person would react to situations.
This book is well written, with a gritty realness that transported me into the setting with the characters and made me part of the chase. I was really surprised by some of the “goings on” of the characters, but it made me really appreciate the author. She just went for it! I can tell that this content might not sit well with some other cozy fans, but I like it. I don’t genuinely know if this novel is very “cozy” in the sense that most of us think, but it’s certainly enjoyable. I look forward to seeing what antics Stephanie finds herself in next. Big kudos to my family for recommending this to me.
