Product Description

Stephanie Plum, Trenton, New Jersey's favorite pistol-packing, condom-carrying bounty hunter, is back--and on the trail of a revenge-seeking waitress who's skipped bail. With then help of 73-year-old Grandma Mazur, ex-hooker Lula, a transvestite musician named Sally Sweet, and the all-too-hospitable, all-too-sexy Joe Morelli, Stephanie might just catch her woman. Then again, with more mishaps than there are exits on the Jersey Turnpike--including murders, firebombs, and Stephanie's arch-rival bounty hunter chasing after the same fugative--Stephanie better watch her back big-time if she wants to live to crack this case.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12554 in Books
• Published on: 1998-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 338 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780312966973
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
Stephanie Plum, the trash-talking New Jersey bail bondswoman of this popular series, is tracking Maxine Nowicki, who's wanted for skipping out on a car-theft charge lodged by her ex-boyfriend. Now the ex-boyfriend's very interested in getting back the love letters he supposedly wrote to Maxine. But what he's really looking for is the secret on which Evanovich hangs her screwball cast of colorful minor characters, including Sally Sweet, a cross-dressing drag queen; Lula, the 250-pound ex-hooker who works for Steph's boss; Cousin Vinnie, the bail bondsman; Grandma Mazur, who packs a Glock and is always looking for a little action; and Joyce, a wannabe bounty hunter who's been cramping Steph's style since she played pass the salami with Steph's ex-husband. The action doesn't get much farther from Trenton than the Jersey Shore, but when Steph's apartment and car are blown up by the others on Maxine's trail and she moves in with Joe Morelli, the handsome, arrogant cop she's been hung up on since high school, it gets hotter than the craps table in Atlantic City. Plum's fans won't be disappointed in this fourth outing in the series, and they're likely to be even more interested in the snappy patter and sexy shenanigans than in the mystery that holds it all together. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly
Half-Hungarian, half-Italian and all-Jersey, Trenton's best-known bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum, is a raucous delight in this fast-paced sequel to Three to Get Deadly (1997). There's no such thing as a simple assignment for Stephanie. When Maxine Nowicki, charged with stealing her boyfriend's car, skips her court appearance, she's fair game to be hauled in?no big challenge, thinks Stephanie. Wrong. Before the case is over, Stephanie will invade an Atlantic City casino with her intrepid allies: sneaker-shod Grandma Mazur; her colleague Lula, "a two-hundred pound black woman with blond baloney curls all dressed up like Cher on a bad day"; and Sally, a seven-foot transvestite rock singer. Although Stephanie is the bounty hunter, she's the only one of the quartet who isn't armed. She also loses another car and her apartment, moves in with handsome cop and longtime love interest, Joe Morelli (causing a stir in his family and hers), has several memorable run-ins with arch rival Joyce Barnhardt, discovers a corpse and, finally, catches her quarry. With her brash exterior and high emotionality, Stephanie Plum is a welcome antidote to suave professional PIs. The supporting cast members, eccentric and recognizable, are as entertaining as those devised by Westlake and Leonard. Major ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, Trenton's answer to sweeps week, is on the trail of Maxine Nowicki, who failed to appear in court on a charge of boosting her ex-boyfriend Eddie Kuntz's car. Like most of the quarry Stephanie tracks for her cousin Vinnie, Maxine hasn't gone far. Not only does she keep popping up to taunt and threaten Stephanie, but she's even arranged a little treasure hunt for Eddie: If he follows the puzzling clues she sends him, he'll get back his mushy old love letters. Stephanie, who doesn't sell herself cheap, takes $1,000 from Eddie to help decipher the clues, but wonders if helping him is such a good idea, since so many of Maxine's nearest and dearest--her mother, her friend Marjorie, the 7-Eleven manager who last saw Maxine--are turning up dead or mutilated, and Stephanie herself is getting harassed, vandalized, and firebombed. In another universe, such wholesale mayhem would be cause for alarm, but for Stephanie it's just so many setup lines for the real questions: Will Stephanie beat her archrival, trampy skip-tracer Joyce Barnhardt, to Maxine? Has longtime lust object Joe Morelli's grandmother gotten Stephanie pregnant by putting the Evil Eye on her? And will Stephanie ever look as foxy as the two transvestite puzzle-solvers she's got in her corner? Counterfeiting, drugs, extortion, kidnaping, homicide, reckless endangerment--all of it hilariously featherweight. Evanovich (Three to Get Deadly, 1997, etc.) never met a felony she couldn't top with an unbeatable laugh. ($350,000 ad/promo; author tour) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Score a Ten!!!
This fourth book in the series is one of nonstop falling off your chair laughter. Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter is after Maxine Nowicki, who is free on a stolen automobile charge. Her boyfriend, Eddie Kuntz, also offers Stephanie money in hopes that she can retrieve something extremely valuable to him...love letters, he claims.

The chase is on in this page-turning craze, and all of the extra added details that makes this adventure that much more funny! The cast of characters is helpful to Stephanie once again. Stephanie's family, especially Grandma Mazur, add pizzazz, depth, and a heck of a lot of humor to this great plot.
Joe Morelli is also back and yes him and Stephanie finally get together!
Lula, the large prostitute-turned-file clerk-slash-wannabe is hysterical in this book. Her quick wit and street humor keep you rolling.
This fourth book also introduces Sally Sweet, a code-breaking transvestite 'drag queen" musician. Grandma Mazur comes right out and asks Sally what a drag queen does with his ding-dong and I died laughing. Stephanie's enemy, Joyce Barnhardt, also has a larger roll in this book, as the newest bounty hunter at the Vincent Plum bail bonds agency.

This book is truly hysterical, pages keep turning with the fast paced humor and wit. This is the best book yet in the series and I thought three was good. This series is highly recommended!

Viva La Stephanie!
In this fourth outing of the so-far-fabulous Stephanie Plum series, Janet Evanovich is in perfect form--and so is her dippy bounty-hunting heroine.

Why do these books work so well? The mysteries are entertaining, but certainly not edge-of-the-seat suspense. The endings are more or less foregone conclusions. The plot twists and turns can only be called improbable, if not impossible. Put them all together, and you have the most entertaining, well-written, often hilarious, always amusing set of silliness. I challenge anybody to read this book, for instance, without at least one loud, inappropriate, uncontrollable guffaw!

On to the plot: Stephanie takes on what looks to be a simple, straightforward case, the apprehension of a first-time offender named Maxine. But of course Stephanie's cases are NEVER straightfoward, and Stephanie is soon embroiled in a mystery that features chopped-off fingers, a grisly scalping, counterfeit money, several fire-bombings, and some new characters who are funny enough to do serious damage to your insides as you laugh yourself sick.

In addition to the much beloved regulars: Lula the ex-hooker (in fine form as always), the taciturn Mr. Plum (who actually has a speech that lasts more than a sentence in this book!), Grandma Mazur (who should be declared a national treasure), and the gorgeous, sexy, Morelli (not much of Ranger in this book), we now have Sally, a hefty transvestite who stands almost 7 feet tall when decked out in full regalia (including stiletto heels). Sally has a problem, though: he refuses to shave his ultra-hairy legs, arms, and chest, and often has trouble with his mascara. Need I say that Grandma Mazur just loves him?

Then we have Sugar, Sally's gay roommate, who buries his anxieties in frenzies of baking. All-night baking. Cover-the-counter with 8 million cakes and cookies baking. Sugar has an unrequited crush on his straight but cross-dressing roommate. Hence the baking.

I could go on and on....but I don't want to introduce any spoilers. Here's a hint, though: We see much more of Morelli than we have in the three previous books. hehehehehehehehhe

Wait up, Lula! Keep your pleated plaid skirt on, Candy! I'm on my way back to the burg! On to Book 5!!!!

Four to Score...A Real Winner
Stephanie's back and better than ever with Four to Score, a funny, sexy romp through Trenton, New Jersey. Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter from hell, is on the trail of Maxine Nowicki, who forgot about her court appearance and jumped bail. In the process of tracking Maxine down, she uncovers murderers, counterfeiters and a fire bomber. Unfortunately, Stephanie's apartment is at the top of the fire bomber's hit list and she moves in with Joe Morelli. Now the fun really begins. As always, Ms Evanovich fills her story with quirky, wacky characters that just add to the fun and we get to see a lot more of the Plum and Morelli families. The writing is smart and down to earth and Ms Evanovich has a wonderful ear for dialogue. You'll laugh out loud at the antics of this fine cast. Do yourself a favor, start with One for the Money and read the whole series. Ms Evanovich doesn't disappoint.