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 … 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.
more
I read this book years ago and waited very impatiently for the subsequent books. Today’s readers will get to enjoy all Stephanie’s adventures 25 more times after this one….with Book #27 coming out in November 2020! Also check out the novellas and spin offs!
After devouring this highly entertaining book, you might as well settle in and start on the rest of the series. Hilarious
made me laugh out loud
Love this series!
I have seen books by Janet Evanovich — by the number for a while on book stands.
However, this is my first. I saw number One and thought, let’s see how this goes.
I couldn’t believe how naïve Stephanie was, but that lent itself to her first experiences that cracked me up. There I was lying in bed trying not to wake my husband — but you just couldn’t not laugh. I have to find #2.
Great start of a series. Love all the characters
Will read anything by this author!
Love the Stephanie Plum series. Light reading but interesting and they always make me laugh! Fun reading when I don’t want to get too serious.
Fun read
Enjoy the humor. I’ve read many of this series. Enjoy them all.
This whole series is fun to read!
Not many books make laugh so hard!
Hysterically funny. Laugh out loud funny.
I love this whole series. Laugh out loud funny.
Start with “One For The Money” and read the whole series – all 27. Great fun!
Laugh out loud!!! You will be hooked on Stephanie Plum!!
Great book. Easy to read Held my interest
This book has it all. The characters were described well and the humor had me laughing out loud. We meet Stephanie right away who has a good job, house, money and car. Then she suddenly loses her job and can’t pay the bills so she sells just about everything she owns to get her phone turned back on and pay other bills Desperate for a job, she blackmails her cousin, Vinnie, into giving her a job at his bail bond business as a recovery agent. She has no experience in finding people who have run out on their bail so she gets herself into some very dangerous situations. She takes on her first case because she needs the money and didn’t think it would be very hard to find someone who had skipped bail. But once she starts looking, she sees that it will be really hard to find and apprehend Joe Morelli who happened to be someone she was intimate with in high school. Joe is now a cop who was charged with murder, maintains he is innocent so skips bail and tries to find the evidence he needs to prove his innocence.
Stephanie is cute and funny but because of her ‘I gotta do this job’ attitude, she is not too smart a lot of the time, getting herself into dangerous situations. In the beginning, we learn that Joe was scum when Stephanie knew him as a teenager but later learn that he has grown into a pretty decent man.
After reading the reviews for One For The Money I was really looking forward to reading it but it turns out that I didn’t love it as much as most of the other readers. Don’t get me wrong – it is a good book but just not as great as I expected. Stephanie came across as a bumbling idiot and I didn’t like the neighborhood setting. It’s an easy read with an uncomplicated plot and terrific last few chapters. The ending was great and I was surprised with the way things wrapped up.
It’s a good start to a long-running series.
Stephanie Plum is an accidental bounty hunter. She’s smart, funny, and plucky, and she’s also in over her head. It’s nice to see her start to figure things out as she works her first case.
This book introduced me to the Stephanie Plum series. I have read and enjoyed them all to date. Each is filled with great, quirky characters, fun story lines, and laugh-out-loud moments. I always look forward to the next one as it is like being back with friends.