One for the Money (Stephanie Plum, No. 1) - Softcover

Evanovich, Janet

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140252924 ISBN 13: 9780140252927

Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1996

Synopsis

Book 1 of the Stephanie Plum series. This is the dynamite blockbuster that started it all! Stephanie Plum is a Jersy girl with Bette Midler's mouth and Cher's fashion sense. Who could resist? "Evanovich has crafted a heroine for today, tough, vulnerable, resourceful, and impulsive." (Nora Roberts) Welcome to Trenton, NJ - home to wise guys, average Joes, and Stephanie Plum. Having lost her job as a lingerie buyer for a department store, she needs cash fast. Landing a gig at her sleazy cousin Vinnie's bail bonding company, (she has no experience) it all leads to adventure with a sexy vice cop in trouble, who's always had a thing for Stephanie. If she can nab him in a week it means a cool ten grand. All she has to do is become an expert bounty hunter overnight-and keep herself from getting killed before she gets her man. Evanovich has enough loony and funky characters to keep anyone interested and laughing.

About this title

Review

Stephanie Plum is so smart, so honest, and so funny that her narrative charm could drive a documentary on termites. But this tough gal from New Jersey, an unemployed discount lingerie buyer, has a much more interesting story to tell: She has to say that her Miata has been repossessed and that she's so poor at the moment that she just drank her last bottle of beer for breakfast. She has to say that her only chance out of her present rut is her repugnant cousin Vinnie and his bail-bond business. She has to say that she blackmailed Vinnie into giving her a bail-bond recovery job worth $10,000 (for a murder suspect), even though she doesn't own a gun and has never apprehended a person in her life. And she has to say that the guy she has to get, Joe Morelli, is the same creep who charmed away her teenage virginity behind the pastry case in the Trenton bakery where she worked after school.

If that hard-luck story doesn't sound compelling enough, Stephanie's several unsuccessful attempts at pulling in Joe make a downright hilarious and suspenseful tale of murder and deceit. Along the way, several more outlandish (but unrelentingly real) characters join the story, including Benito Ramirez, a champion boxer who seems to be following Stephanie Plum wherever she goes.

Janet Evanovich shares an authentic feel for the streets of Trenton in her debut mystery (she developed her talents in a string of romance novels before creating Ms. Plum), and her tough, frank, and funny first-person narrator offers a winning mix of vulgarity and sensitivity. Evanovich is certainly among the best of the new voices to emerge in the mystery field of the 1990s. --Patrick O'Kelley

From the Back Cover

Watch out, world. Here comes Stephanie Plum, a bounty hunter with attitude. In Stephanie's opinion, toxic waste, rabid drivers, armed schizophrenics, and August heat, humidity, and hydrocarbons are all part of the great adventure of living in Jersey. She's a product of the "burg," a blue-collar pocket of Trenton where houses are attached and narrow, cars are American, windows are clean, and (God forbid you should be late) dinner is served at six. Now Stephanie's all grown up and out on her own, living five miles from Mom and Dad's, doing her best to sever the world's longest umbilical cord. Her mother is a meddler, and her grandmother is a few cans short of a case. Out of work and out of money, with her Miata repossessed and her refrigerator empty, Stephanie blackmails her bail bondsman cousin, Vinnie, into giving her a try as an apprehension agent. Stephanie knows zilch about the job requirements, but she figures her new pal, fearless bounty hunter Ranger, can teach her what it takes to catch a crook. Her first assignment: nail Joe Morelli, a former vice cop on the run from a charge of murder one. Morelli is also the irresistible macho pig who took Stephanie's virginity at age sixteen and then wrote the details on the bathroom wall of Mario's Sub Shop. There's still powerful chemistry between these two, so the chase should be interesting. It could also be extremely dangerous, especially when Stephanie encounters a heavyweight title contender who likes to play rough. Benito Ramirez is known for his brutality to women. At the very least, his obsession with Stephanie complicates her manhunt and brings terror and uncertainty into her life. At worst, it could lead to murder. Witty, fresh, and full of surprises, One for the Money is among the most eagerly awaited crime novels of the season.

Edition details

• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0140252924
• ISBN 13: 9780140252927
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 290