One for the Money

What makes it funny?

Stephanie reaches her parents’ house seven minutes late, and her mother treats the threatened pot roast as a household emergency. Grandma Mazur interrupts the reproaches to admire Stephanie’s cycling shorts and consider getting some herself. The family’s priorities keep swerving away from Stephanie’s actual crisis.

The comedy at work

Stephanie’s narration quietly punctures the expectations around her while admitting how badly her own plans are going. Pursuing Morelli adds a practical contest to the romantic friction: Publishers Weekly describes her stealing his car and fitting an alarm to stop him reclaiming it.

Try this if…

Neighborhood family comedy and a novice investigator share space with sexual chemistry and a murder case. Readers who enjoy a resourceful heroine learning on the job will find both comic reversals and a real threat behind the chase.

Good to know

This begins the Stephanie Plum series. Frank sexual references and innuendo accompany the humor; a threatening boxer’s stalking gives the case a darker edge.