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Janet Evanovich

Janet Evanovich

American · 3 series

Who is Janet Evanovich?

Janet Evanovich is the author behind Stephanie Plum, one of the most commercially successful and widely read mystery series of the last thirty years. She was born in 1943 in South River, New Jersey, and spent years writing category romance novels before she made the leap to crime fiction. That romance background never left her — it is baked into every book she has written since.

The breakout was One for the Money in 1994, which introduced Stephanie Plum: a out-of-work lingerie buyer from Trenton, New Jersey who takes a job as a bail enforcement agent — a bounty hunter — with her cousin Vinnie’s bail bonds company. Stephanie is spectacularly bad at her job in the early books, but she is also funny, stubborn, resourceful in unconventional ways, and surrounded by a cast of characters so vivid they have become fixtures of the genre. Her grandmother Mazur steals every scene she enters. Her mentor Ranger is all menace and competence. Her ex-boyfriend Joe Morelli is the cop she can’t quite quit.

The Morelli versus Ranger love triangle is the emotional engine of the Plum series. Evanovich has run it for over thirty books without resolving it, which either keeps you hooked or drives you mad — frequently both. The tone is comic and warm, with car explosions, hamsters, and neighbourhood chaos recurring like old friends.

Outside the Plum series, Evanovich has co-written the Fox and O’Hare heist comedy series — first with Lee Goldberg, later with other collaborators — and the two-book Knight and Moon series. Both are lighter still: fast, funny, and built on the chemistry between mismatched partners.

Quick facts

  • Born: 1943, South River, New Jersey
  • Debut crime novel: One for the Money (1994)
  • Over 31 books in the Stephanie Plum series
  • New York Times bestselling author, multiple times over
  • Film adaptation: One for the Money (2012), starring Katherine Heigl
  • Previously wrote romance under the name Steffie Hall

What order should I read Janet Evanovich’s books?

Start with the Stephanie Plum series from book one. The love triangle, running jokes, and character growth all accumulate across the full run. Fox and O’Hare and Knight and Moon are self-contained and can be read independently, but are best enjoyed once you know what Evanovich’s voice feels like at its most comfortable.

Stephanie Plum

  1. 1
    One for the Money
    One for the Money (1994)

    Stephanie talks her way into a job as a bail enforcement agent and takes her first case — tracking down ex-boyfriend Joe Morelli, now wanted for murder.

  2. 2
    Two for the Dough
    Two for the Dough (1996)

    Stephanie pursues a missing funeral home employee and a cache of stolen weapons, deepening her complicated history with Morelli.

  3. 3
    Three to Get Deadly
    Three to Get Deadly (1997)

    A beloved candy-store owner skips bail and Stephanie must bring in the neighbourhood's most popular figure — while bodies start piling up.

  4. 4
    Four to Score
    Four to Score (1998)

    A skip leads Stephanie into an escalating feud involving revenge notes, cross-dressing, and a series of increasingly strange crimes.

  5. 5
    High Five
    High Five (1999)

    Stephanie searches for her missing Uncle Fred while juggling a skip who may be connected to something far more dangerous than a routine bond violation.

  6. 6
    Hot Six
    Hot Six (2000)

    Ranger is wanted in connection with a murder and Stephanie must decide how much she trusts him as she tries to clear his name.

  7. 7
    Seven Up
    Seven Up (2001)

    A mobster skips bail and Stephanie discovers that the case involves a secret that connects several Trenton residents in unexpected ways.

  8. 8
    Hard Eight
    Hard Eight (2002)

    A mother and daughter go missing and Stephanie enters the world of custody agreements and high-stakes gambling to find them.

  9. 9
    To the Nines
    To the Nines (2003)

    A missing visa worker leads Stephanie from Trenton to Las Vegas as the stakes — and the danger — climb higher than usual.

  10. 10
    Ten Big Ones
    Ten Big Ones (2004)

    After witnessing a robbery, Stephanie becomes a target for a violent gang and must go into hiding while still hunting her skips.

  11. 11
    Eleven on Top
    Eleven on Top (2005)

    Stephanie quits the bond business and tries to hold down a normal job, but someone has decided she should not live long enough to succeed.

  12. 12
    Twelve Sharp
    Twelve Sharp (2006)

    A woman claiming to be Ranger's wife appears, a child is kidnapped, and Stephanie is pulled into Ranger's most personal crisis yet.

  13. 13
    Lean Mean Thirteen
    Lean Mean Thirteen (2007)

    Stephanie's ex-husband Dickie disappears and she becomes the prime suspect — which means she needs to find him before the police find her.

  14. 14
    Fearless Fourteen
    Fearless Fourteen (2008)

    A bank robbery, a missing fortune, and Morelli's houseguest all collide in a case that puts Stephanie in the middle of a very dangerous treasure hunt.

  15. 15
    Finger Lickin' Fifteen
    Finger Lickin' Fifteen (2009)

    Lula witnesses a celebrity chef's murder and becomes a target, while Stephanie chases a particularly elusive skip across Trenton.

  16. 16
    Sizzling Sixteen
    Sizzling Sixteen (2010)

    Vinnie is kidnapped by a loan shark and Stephanie, Lula, and Connie must raise ransom money through increasingly desperate schemes.

  17. 17
    Smokin' Seventeen
    Smokin' Seventeen (2011)

    Bodies are turning up at the bond office construction site and Stephanie faces a new romantic complication on top of the usual chaos.

  18. 18
    Explosive Eighteen
    Explosive Eighteen (2011)

    Stephanie returns from a Hawaiian vacation with no memory of what happened and someone very determined to get back a photograph she may have taken.

  19. 19
    Notorious Nineteen
    Notorious Nineteen (2012)

    A hospital patient vanishes mid-surgery and Stephanie's investigation into the skip leads her into a world of medical fraud and missing millions.

  20. 20
    Takedown Twenty
    Takedown Twenty (2013)

    A beloved Trenton mobster needs to be brought in and Stephanie finds the entire neighbourhood is conspiring to protect him, while a giraffe goes missing.

  21. 21
    Top Secret Twenty-One
    Top Secret Twenty-One (2014)

    A Russian assassin, a skip with dangerous knowledge, and Ranger's past all converge in a case that stretches from Trenton to international intrigue.

  22. 22
    Tricky Twenty-Two
    Tricky Twenty-Two (2015)

    A college campus shooting leads Stephanie into fraternity secrets and a case where the skip is the least of her problems.

  23. 23
    Turbo Twenty-Three
    Turbo Twenty-Three (2016)

    A body found dipped in chocolate at an ice cream factory pulls Stephanie into a corporate rivalry with deadly stakes.

  24. 24
    Hardcore Twenty-Four
    Hardcore Twenty-Four (2017)

    Headless bodies are appearing around Trenton and Diesel — Stephanie's supernatural-adjacent acquaintance — returns to complicate matters further.

  25. 25
    Look Alive Twenty-Five
    Look Alive Twenty-Five (2018)

    Managers keep disappearing from a deli that Ranger now owns, and Stephanie goes undercover to find out why.

  26. 26
    Twisted Twenty-Six
    Twisted Twenty-Six (2019)

    Grandma Mazur's surprise marriage and even more surprising widowhood puts her at the centre of a mob power struggle that Stephanie must navigate.

  27. 27
    Fortune and Glory
    Fortune and Glory (2020)

    Grandma Mazur is back in trouble, this time chasing a legendary treasure that very dangerous people also want to find.

  28. 28
    Game On
    Game On (2021)

    A tech genius hacker skips bail and Stephanie's pursuit leads her into a world of gaming, cybercrime, and higher-than-usual competence from unlikely allies.

  29. 29
    Going Rogue
    Going Rogue (2022)

    Stephanie and Lula go off-book to solve a case that the bond office wants left alone, discovering that some skips are hiding something much bigger.

  30. 30
    Dirty Thirty
    Dirty Thirty (2023)

    A jewellery store robbery and a slippery skip pull Stephanie into a case that tests her methods, her patience, and her relationship with both Morelli and Ranger.

  31. 31
    Now or Never
    Now or Never (2024)

    The love triangle reaches a turning point as Stephanie finally confronts the question that has been hanging over the series for three decades.

Fox and O'Hare

  1. 1
    The Heist
    The Heist (2013)

    Nick Fox is caught by Kate O'Hare after years of pursuit — and immediately recruited by the FBI to help take down a corporate fraudster using his own methods.

  2. 2
    The Chase
    The Chase (2014)

    Nick and Kate go after a ruthless antiquities thief who has been looting cultural treasures, taking their act to international locations.

  3. 3
    The Job
    The Job (2014)

    A dangerous criminal enterprise requires Nick and Kate to pull off an elaborate undercover con, deepening their partnership and mutual complications.

  4. 4
    The Scam
    The Scam (2015)

    Nick and Kate head to Macau to take down a money launderer with connections to international crime, requiring their most ambitious deception yet.

  5. 5
    The Pursuit
    The Pursuit (2016)

    A bioterrorism threat pulls Nick and Kate into their most dangerous assignment, where the stakes are higher than any previous heist.

  6. 6
    The Big Kahuna
    The Big Kahuna (2019)

    Nick and Kate target a tech billionaire whose empire conceals a criminal network, in a caper that takes them to Hawaii.

  7. 7
    The Bounty
    The Bounty (2021)

    The series concludes with Nick and Kate on the hunt for a stolen treasure while their personal relationship reaches its long-delayed resolution.

Knight and Moon

  1. 1
    Curious Minds
    Curious Minds (2016)

    Riley Moon takes a job with the wildly unconventional Emerson Knight and their first assignment — auditing his gold reserves — uncovers a financial conspiracy that puts both their lives at risk.

  2. 2
    Dangerous Minds
    Dangerous Minds (2017)

    Emerson and Riley return for a second adventure involving a missing monk, sacred treasures, and a threat with global consequences, all handled with Evanovich's characteristic comic touch.

If you enjoy Janet Evanovich, try...

  • Rhys Bowen — Light-hearted mysteries with strong female protagonists
  • Jenn McKinlay — Humorous cosy mysteries with romance elements