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Home > Books > Reviews - Fiction > One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
Submitted by: Nancy L. Young-Houser
Part of an upcoming Stephanie Plum novel series, One For The Money is a witty and exceptionally funny story of Stephanie Plum—a bounty hunter with a huge attitude who really is not afraid of much of anything. In her young twenties, she lives only five miles from her parents she spends as many nights as possible for supper, along with the live-in eccentric Grandma Mazur who keeps the reader in stitches throughout the entire book. Losing her job, Stephanie blackmails her cousin Vinnie into letting her become a "bondsman agent"—a job where she goes after people who do not show up for court after Vinnie posts bail for them—a glorified female bounty hunter who knows nothing about the job. With most of the no-shows seedy and non-violent individuals, every now and then she runs into a touch situation. Need I say more?
Her very first job as a bonds agent, she becomes handcuffed naked in her shower by Joe Morelli, a former cop on the run from a serious murder charge who has jumped bond. Not strangers, she had been previously intimate with Joe as a young adult and was still holding it against him that he had written notes of their sexual escapade on the bathroom wall in Mario's Sup Shop for the entire world to see. Now that they are older, she has not forgiven him and hopes to make some money on bringing him in.
Stealing his car he had left along the curb (with the keys in it) she takes off to find him. Unfortunately, she runs into a violent individual who loves to rape and beat-up women, which causes Joe to end up as her caretaker throughout the story. Once she finds out that Joe has been framed for the murder charge, they team up while trying to find out who is framing Joe—making the book one piece of excitement after another.
Stephanie is type of daughter her mother has to lie to her neighborhood women's club about her career, whereas her Grandma Mazur is excitedly one step behind Stephanie in all the escapades, while attending all the neighborhood funeral to enjoy the best cookies in town—as long as you get there early enough for a front row seat. Meanwhile she desires a pair of Stephanie's tight spandex shorts:
Grandma Mazur stood two feet back from my mother. "I gotta get me a pair of those," she said, eyeballing my shorts. "I've still pretty good legs, you know." She raised her skirt and looked down at her knees. "What do you think? You think I'd look good in them biker things?"
Grandma Mazur had knees like doorknobs. She'd been a beauty in her time, but the years had turned her slack-skinned and spindle-boned. Still, if she wanted to wear biker shorts, I thought she should go for it. The way I saw it, that was one of the many advantages of living in New Jersey---even old ladies were allowed to look outlandish.
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Nancy L. Young-Houser is a professional writer and illustrator, in addition to providing a home for dogs on all levels of need with her best friend, Sandra Marquiss. Her writings include controversial subjects as part of the soapbox she has carried around since childhood, never leaving home without it. Part of this soapbox is her website WayCoolDogs.com filled with lots of four-legged information!
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