The Stephanie Plum mysteries are written by Janet Evanovich and there are thirteen books in the series so far.
The books are fun and a little bit silly but they are so totally enjoyable and the characters are so likable that it is a pure joy to sit down and read them.
Each book has everything necessary to make a good story – quirky characters [Lula, Vinnie, Connie, Stephanie herself], crazy family members [Grandma Mazur!], sexy hunky men [Ranger, Morelli], an unconventional job [bounty hunter], pets [hamster and Bob the dog], mystery and adventure.
Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter for her cousin Vinnie’s Bail Bond company. And Stephanie has no formal training as a bounty hunter. In fact, Stephanie has only three qualifications as a bounty hunter. She is nosy and persistent and lucky. Otherwise Stephanie gets into a lot of trouble and frequently her friend Lula, gets into that trouble with her. The two of them together are nearly as bad as a comedy team like Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello. It is close to being similar in humor to an episode of the Three Stooges but even funnier.
The books have exciting things happening like explosions and the occasional shooting. Sometimes someone dies and bad things happen but that isn’t the main focus of the stories.
Usually Stephanie’s cars explode in almost every book and sometimes her car’s explode more often than once a book. Once, there was even the garbage truck that exploded. It flew up into the air several feet, then fell over sideways on top of the brand new Porsche, crushing it as flat as a pancake! The one car that never seems to get destroyed is the one that Stephanie borrows from her family, a 1953 powder blue Buick.
Stephanie also has some romance in her life. She cares about two men, Joe Morelli and Ranger. Morelli is a police detective and Ranger is a bounty hunter who has mentored Stephanie
Stephanie also has family. She goes home for family dinners all the time and very funny things can happen. Grandma Mazur lives with Stephanie’s parents and she is a bit unconventional. Grandma Mazur likes to visit the funeral home when someone has died whether she knew them or not and she especially likes to view the body. She has been known to lift the lid on several caskets to get a look. Once she even took pictures of the deceased [by standing on a chair] with a disposable camera after setting off the fire alarm to get everyone out of the funeral home while a little person stood watch for her.
If you like serious mysteries or crime novels, then Stephanie Plum is not for you. This series is strictly for humorous entertainment and pure fun. I love the entire series and have read all of them over and over and I just can’t say enough about how much fun they are to read.
If you get a chance, check them out at either your local library or used bookstore. You can also buy them online used rather cheaply through a site such as bookfinder.com. Sometimes people will sell the entire set or most of the series on ebay and you can usually get those for a reasonable price.
You can also buy the books on CD so that you can listen to the stories. These are great for the long commute to work or school or as a gift for someone who does not have good eyesight. Amazon sells them, either new or used.
Here are the twelve book titles:
One for the Money
Two for the Dough
Three to Get Deadly
Four to Score
High Five
Hot Six
Seven Up
Hard Eight
To the Nines
Ten Big Ones
Eleven on Top
Twelve Sharp
Lean Mean Thirteen
You can visit the Janet Evanovich website for more information on the Stephanie Plum series or for book excerpts to see if you would even like to read the books or just for the fun contests
