One for the Money: International Edition

Stephanie Plum Mysteries, Book 1

By: Janet Evanovich

Narrated by: C. J. Critt

Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

You've lost your job as a department store lingerie buyer, your car's been repossessed, and most of your furniture and small appliances have been sold off to pay last month's rent. Now the rent is due again. And you live in New Jersey. What do you do? 

If you're Stephanie Plum, you become a bounty hunter. But not just a nickel-and-dime bounty hunter - you go after the big money. That means a cop gone bad. And not just any cop. She goes after Joe Morelli, a disgraced former vice cop who is also the man who took Stephanie's virginity at age 16 and then wrote details on a bathroom wall. With pride and rent money on the line, Plum plunges headlong into her first case, one that pits her against ruthless adversaries - people who'd rather kill than lose. 

The New York Times Book Review calls Stephanie Plum "a Jersey girl with Bette Midler's mouth and Cher's fashion sense." In Stephanie Plum, Evanovich has created a resourceful and humorous character who stands apart from the pack of gritty female detectives.

©1999 Janet Evanovich (P)2020 Recorded Books, Inc.

I couldn't finish it

I downloaded this book as a suggestion from my mom. I'm not sure if the author intentionally wrote the main character as an idiot, but if this woman really existed I would have slapped her. One of the most obnoxious and idiotic leading characters I've ever encountered. I couldn't even bear finishing and I only had a little over 2 hours left. What a frustratingly stupid character. Narrator was just ok.

Stephanie Plum...Girl Wonder

I love the characters in all the Stephanie Plum novels..Janet Evanovich never disappoints..the only thing I don't love is coming to the inevitable end..

WORST NARRATOR EVER

Reading the books was fun, do I thought listening to them would be great. was I wrong, this is the worst narrator I have ever tried to listen to. way to ruin a good thing.

2.5 stars. Just barely good enough to finish

This would have been good as a free promo. Middling story, middling characters, hit and miss humor, and a narrator who has 1 tone -- like she's reading out loud to grade schoolers whether it's a joke, murder scene, or woman getting assaulted. She did decent character voices though.

biggest waste of a credit ever!

ridiculously written, Audible needs a return policy. don't purchase. offended everyone I know in New Jersey

Nice!

Came back for this one, started later in the series. I wasn’t disappointed In The least! Great book! Awesome start!

A good and fast read. Funny and entertaining.

A good and fast read. Funny and entertaining. My only critique would be a little bit more range for the voice actor to give a little bit more differentiation between the characters. However, this is still an excellent job at the voice actor in my opinion.

Had a good laugh

I read this book at least 25 yrs ago. Listening to it was a real treat and I needed the laugh.

Took a while….

In the end, I enjoyed this story and the character of Stephanie Plum. It just took soooo long to get there. I can’t not finish a book so I pushed through. For the first half I knew I would never read another Stephanie Plum book, but by the end that changed to a definite commitment to the next book in the series.

Stephanie Plum To The Rescue

I read this book many years ago. Apparently I forgot everything about the series except that I had liked it. I love listening to it. The story is hilarious. Stephanie Plum is so average and likeable. Grandma Mazur is a hoot. Joe Morelli and Stephanie' relationship is awesome and I do hope they end up together. They make such a great team. So dysfunctional.
There has been some negative comments about C.J. Critt as narrator but she does a fine job. I see she gets replaced later on. That can be tough as you get used the character's voices and then someone new comes in and changes everything.

Awful. Unfunny. Awful.

I did NOT like this at all. I kept waiting for the humour, which never came. I kept waiting for some plot, which never came. In the end, I gave up.

If I were to compare this to a TV programme, it would be an American show aimed at teenagers. That's the level of sophistication and humour you get. I'm not saying that the book is aimed at American teens -- that's the style it reminds me of. Every character is a caricature. Ever word of dialogue, you've heard before. There was absolutely nothing to like in this for me. And the narrator didn't help. I kept losing focus and had to rewind, as it just didn't grab my interest at all.

I've no idea why this has become so popular or why it spawned sequels.

very enjoyable

Really enjoyed this book. Narration very good, although could hear very faint echo of the narration but didn't affect the listening. Think I'll download the series really enjoyed.

Loved and laughed a lot

Love the Stephanie Plum books just wished they would all be unabridged. This book has lots of fun mystery love interests and twists.
I'm now waiting for the others to be recorded unabridged please!!

fun listening - but slightly stilted narration

the story is fun and relatively lightweight plot wise characters are mostly stereotypes. story arc accelerated rapidly in the last two chapters. That said, I really enjoyed it

only thing letting it down is the narration which has a lot of gaps and pauses that feel like sightly clumsy edits of the audio.

wonderful characters

absolutely hilarious, loved the characters especially main character Stephanie and her grandma. laugh out loud but also a gripping story.

Fun story with great mystery.

A great "read". I enjoyed listening to this very much and would recommend it.

Standard chick detective stuff

I listened to the end, although there were times when I really thought that was a waste of time and was tempted to give up because all the characters and the trajectory of the plot were pretty well obvious by halfway in. Even the author seems to have got bored with it and the denoument was a quick race through a few tie-up lines in the final couple of pages. She cheats, too, padding the story out with, for instance, a detailed description of unpacking groceries from a supermarket bag. What was that for? It had its humorous moments and wasn't a terrible piece of work. It could be an entertaining light listen on a long flight but I'm not getting any more.

Loved the main characters

Loved it, was delighted to find there is a whole series to go. The characters are interesting and the storyline kept me captivated.