Stephanie Plum

Stephanie Plum is a Trenton, New Jersey bounty hunter who is perpetually in over her head, chronically losing cars to explosions, and caught between two men: dangerous security expert Ranger and ex-boyfriend cop Joe Morelli. The series runs on comic chaos, neighbourhood warmth, and one of crime fiction's longest unresolved love triangles.

By Janet Evanovich · 31 books · 1994–present

By The Editorial Team · Last reviewed April 2026

What is the Stephanie Plum series about?

Stephanie Plum is a Trenton, New Jersey native who stumbles into bounty hunting when she needs a job badly enough to blackmail her cousin Vinnie into hiring her. Janet Evanovich launched the series in 1994 with One for the Money and has kept it running for over thirty books, making Stephanie one of the most recognisable figures in modern crime fiction — and certainly the one most likely to have her car explode before lunch.

The premise is comic and stays comic. Stephanie is perpetually unprepared, her vehicles have a habit of catching fire or being stolen, and her methods would make any professional investigator wince. But she has instinct, stubbornness, a network of eccentric allies, and a knack for surviving situations that should kill her. She is not incompetent so much as spectacularly unlucky, and her willingness to keep going despite everything is what makes her likeable rather than absurd.

The supporting cast is exceptional. Lula — a former sex worker turned file clerk turned enthusiastic but chaotic sidekick — is one of crime fiction’s great comic characters, fearless in all the wrong situations and armed with opinions on everything. Grandma Mazur, Stephanie’s pistol-packing, funeral- crashing grandmother, steals every scene she enters. Connie at the bond office, Stephanie’s long-suffering family, and a rotating gallery of skips ranging from pathetic to terrifying round out a Trenton that feels genuinely lived in.

Running beneath the comedy is the love triangle: Joe Morelli, the neighbourhood cop turned detective who has known Stephanie since childhood, and Ranger, the ex-Special Forces security operative who is everything Morelli is not — silent, dangerous, and magnetically competent. Both men are drawn with enough texture to sustain thirty books of romantic tension. Evanovich plays it long and slow, which is either the genius or the frustration of the series depending on your patience.

Should I read the Stephanie Plum series in order?

Yes, from book one. Each novel works as a standalone mystery, but the accumulated weight of the relationships — particularly the Morelli/Ranger dynamic, Stephanie’s slow growth as an investigator, and Grandma Mazur’s increasingly unhinged adventures — pays off significantly for readers who follow the full run. The first five books are the tightest and funniest. The middle stretch settles into a comfortable formula that some readers love and others find repetitive. The later books reward investment in the characters even when the plots feel familiar.

Who will enjoy the Stephanie Plum series?

Readers who want their mysteries funny. This is not a dark or procedurally rigorous series — it is comic crime fiction with genuine warmth and a heroine who is easy to root for even when she is making every wrong decision. The humour is broad, physical, and relentless. If you have ever wanted a mystery novel that reads like a sitcom with better plotting, this is the series.

Fans of light romantic mystery will be at home immediately. If you enjoy the humorous tone and small-community feel of authors like Diane Mott Davidson, Stephanie Plum delivers a more overtly comedic version of the same spirit. The Fox and O’Hare series by the same author is a natural next step when you finish.

Publication Order

1
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Sizzling Sixteen (2010)
Vinnie is kidnapped by a loan shark and Stephanie, Lula, and Connie must raise ransom money through increasingly desperate schemes.
17
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Hardcore Twenty-Four (2017)
Headless bodies are appearing around Trenton and Diesel — Stephanie's supernatural-adjacent acquaintance — returns to complicate matters further.
25
Look Alive Twenty-Five (2018)
Managers keep disappearing from a deli that Ranger now owns, and Stephanie goes undercover to find out why.
26
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
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
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
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
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
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.

Related Series

Fox and O'Hare — Same author, same comedic energy and mismatched partners
Knight and Moon — Janet Evanovich's other comic mystery duo