Four to Score

A (Great).

Stephanie Plum has to catch a fugitive who leaves puzzle clues.

The finale is anticlimactic, but the trip there is great. The first three books were all funny, but this one is an all out action comedy - nonstop laughs, and a fair amount of suspense.

(Jun. 2026)

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has been given the task of bringing in Maxine Nowicki. It should be a straightforward job. Maxine has a clean record and she only "stole" her boyfriend's car. But Maxine proves strangely elusive. Stephanie's job gets harder when Joyce Barnhardt, a new bounty hunter, starts tracking Maxine as well. Stephanie and Joyce have been rivals before, when Joyce was banging Stephanie's husband. Stephanie is determined that she's not going to lose this time. With the help of Lula the giant ex-prostitute; Sally the drag queen; Morelli, everyone's favorite Italian cop; and Ranger, everyone's favorite Cuban bounty hunter extraordinaire, Stephanie just might be able to get her woman.

I always remember that I love this show more series, but somehow in between books, I forget exactly how much I love them. It doesn't take me long to remember. This is how this one played out.

My husband was cooking something for me (he's great that way), and I cracked this book open just to take a quick glance. And I started reading. And grinning. On the first page. My husband said my name (I think only once, but I can't be sure), and when I looked up at him, he asked, "Wow, what is that grin all about?" Me: "I forgot how much I love Stephanie Plum!" and with a giggle and a little wiggle of glee, I dove back into the book, at least until my grilled cheese was ready. I am a giggler, but I'm not a wiggler. Stephanie brings it out in me. Or should I say Morelli? *winkwinknudgenudge*

My giggles and wiggles continued throughout the book. I've enjoyed the entire series so far, but I did like this one a little more than Three to Get Deadly. Grandma Mazur doesn't have as large a role here, and I did miss her, but Lula stepped up her game and Sally the drag queen stepped into the limelight. They all just crack me up! Seriously!

Morelli is smokin' hot in this book. For serious. There were times when I was fanning myself and cheering Stephanie on. I think mostly in my head, but again, I can't promise that. In the last few pages, my husband had to look at me again. "What is it this time?" I was giggling and fanning for all I was worth. "Morelli. Hot. Damn." And that's about all I was capable of. My husband is a patient, long-suffering man. He's used to these little outbursts when I'm reading. He just said, "Oh. Okay." And went back to Scramble With Friends. He's learned not to ask for explanations because he will get them.

For a fun read with insane sidekicks and hot leading men, pick up this series. I just have a blast reading them. show less

Five months ago we last left Stephanie "in a clinch" on her couch with Joe Morelli. Now, five months have passed and Stephanie Plum is still trying to be a bail bondsman (or is it bondswoman?) for her cousin Vinnie. She doesn't quite have her technique honed in, but she's getting there. She's the type of girl who can't pass up a home-cooked meal or the chance to make promises while crossing her fingers behind her back. It should be said, Stephanie is a walking disaster. Dead bodies pile up in her wake. So much so she is starting to get a reputation. Her vehicles are continuously getting destroyed (at least one per book). this time it's a Honda CRX. Luckily for her, her family's baby blue boat of a Buick is always available.
This time show more Stephanie is on the hunt for Maxine Nowicki, wanted for theft and extortion. Only, Steph has unwanted company. Vinnie has hired nemesis Joyce Barnhardt, the woman who lured Stephanie's husband to cheat. Stephanie and Joyce have known each other since high school. Maxine shouldn't be hard to find. She has been leaving demented clues for her ex to follow like some kind of vicious scavenger hunt. At the same time, Stephanie is dealing with her own jealous girlfriend - someone insane enough to torch her Honda CRX and firebomb her apartment. show less

Book four in Evanovich's series about Stephanie Plum, a neophyte bounty hunter from Trenton, New Jersey. I gotta say, I'm enjoying this series more and more as it goes on. At this point, it's gone from guilty pleasure to just plain pleasure. The plot isn't much, sure, but the humor is tons of fun. It probably also helped that this one included a visit to the Jersey Shore, which brought back a lot of childhood nostalgia for me. Also, I read most of it on an airplane, and it was pretty much the ideal airplane book: light and undemanding, but entertaining enough to effortlessly while away the time.

Stephanie Plum is back up to her bounty hunting hijinks hunting down a woman who skipped out on her bail after being arrested for stealing her boyfriend's car. Of course, the case isn't nearly as straight forward as it looks and the case once again causes major problems for Stephanie.

Another fun entry in the series and although the book shows its age in parts (the language used around the two drag queens who pop up is great for 1998, but would probably take a bit of editing over twenty years later), overall it holds up well. The cast of characters surrounding Stephanie remain very funny and this time the mystery was mysterious enough I wasn't quite sure where it was headed. Definitely a read that will satisfy established fans of the series.

This is not a book to read in bed, especially if your husband is trying to sleep. Laugh out loud uproarously funny stuff. Maxine is accused of stealing her ex-boyfriend's car so she runs him over, jumps bail and makes him jump through various hoops. He wants his love letters back, but they're not really love letters. Maxine sends him clues to find them and he has to do nasty things like dig through a bag of dog poop to find the clue. Stephanie and her posse of misfits goes after Maxine and tries to help the guy retrieve his letters.
Stephanie can't figure out the clues so she enlists the aid of Sally Sweet, a very large, very hairy cross-dresser who at the moment is playing in a drag band and living with a gay man. Sally will tell you show more he's straight. He influences Stephanie's 73-year-old grandma to join his band and eventually Lula will be their lead singer. But that's another story.
Then there is the question of men - Joe Morelli the good, but hot cop or Ranger who doesn't always follow the rules to get his man and who is in my opinion, even hotter.
Mayhem rules; cars and apartments are blown up leaving Stephanie high and dry, but there is always the 53 powder blue Buick and a bed at Joe's or Ranger's place.
I couldn't put this one down. LOVED! it. show less

Stephanie Plum is always fun and I love a revisit with the standard quirky characters and meeting new ones. Some like Sally, a male musician and cross-dresser, you hope make recurring appearances because they are truly a delight.

Stephanie's Failure To Appear assignment is complicated by Vinnie handing the same assignment to another would-be bouny hunter who sweet-talked him into it. Her competitor is none other than the woman Stephanie had caught doing the horizontal hula with her husband, now ex. If that is not enough, she has to endure the loss of another vehicle to explosion, temporary eviction from her apartment because it gets firebombed, and, since she rents a room from Morelli rather than staying at her parents, a truckload of show more rumors that she and Morelli are both getting married and expecting a baby. All a good old regular time for our favorite bounty hunter. show less