David

All you need is a sense of humor. Actually, you don't even need that. Or a personality. You just have to be able to read, or, in the case of an audible book, listen. Janet Evanovich has given Stephanie Plum enough personality and wit for 10 women. Or men. And with supporting characters like Joe Morelli, Ranger, Lula and Grandma Mazur, all that's necessary is that you read/listen in spurts so you don't die of laughter before the book ends. I'm telling ya, even Rex the hamster, who doesn't even have a speaking part, is funny.

It also isn't hard to find someone to hate in “One for the Money,” the first book in the Plum novels. Joyce Barnhardt comes to mind. She's the series bitch and Stephanie's arch enemy. Why? She slept with Stephanie's husband-at-the-time, Dickie Orr, and neither got much sleep. Speaking of sex, Stephanie and Morelli have had the on-and-off hots for each other since forever, and have been fighting and flirting since childhood.

Then there's fellow bounty hunter Ranger. He and Ms. Plum have nothing in common, except a mutual attraction to each other. He's the consummate professional to Stephanie's bumbling neophyte slob. Ranger's an almost vegetarian and she's never met a cheeseburger she doesn't like. But he seems to always turn up when Stephanie needs him, and in "One for the Money," she needs him several times. Heck, she needs a lot of help. A natural at bounty hunting, she isn’t.

Of course, it also helps to have a fearless family member like Grandma Mazer, who wouldn't back down from a circle saw, and who takes to carrying a pistol (a really big one) in her purse in the next book in the series, "Two for the Dough." She also, much to Stephanie’s dismay, starts tagging along with her on searches for FTAs (failure to appear).

Bottom line: "One for the Money" is a hoot from start to finish. It will leave you wanting more. Fortunately, there is more. A lot of it.