Overview
Janet Evanovich admits that Stephanie Plum's character is inspired by her own, in both history and "similar embarrassing experiences." Evanovich says, "I wouldn't go so far as to say Stephanie is an autobiographical character, but I will admit to knowing where she lives." Like Evanovich, Stephanie originates from Trenton, New Jersey, the city where the series is set. Stephanie grew up in the Chambersburg neighborhood known to locals as "the Burg", and - like Evanovich - attended Douglass College, although Stephanie graduated "without distinction". The Burg is often portrayed in the series as a close-knit community, from which people rarely leave. Stephanie often finds former classmates and neighbors still living in the Burg, only a few streets away from their childhood home. After graduation, Stephanie married Dickie Orr, then promptly divorced him after discovering him in their new home, cheating on her with rival Joyce Barnhardt on their brand new dining room table. At the beginning of the first book,
One For the Money, Stephanie has been laid off from her job as a lingerie buyer, she is being forced to sell off her appliances one by one in order to pay her rent, and her car is repossessed. This last straw prompts her to turn to her cousin Vinnie, owner of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds, for a job. She originally hopes to find a file clerk job at the Bail Bonds office but the position was taken, and the only position available is as an apprehension agent or bounty hunter. Vinnie refuses to hire her, but she manages to convince him to give her a shot by threatening to blackmail him.
Family
Grandma Mazur
Grandma Mazur is Stephanie's maternal grandmother. In
Two For The Dough her real name is Edna. She lives in Stephanie's parents' house ever since her husband died of heart failure. In
Lean Mean Thirteen Grandma Mazur uses his real name: Harry. She is a woman unwilling to grow old, ever. Stephanie relates to Grandma Mazur more than any other member of her family. Beginning in
Two For the Dough, Grandma Mazur begins to tag along on cases with Stephanie, often pulling a gun out of her purse at inappropriate moments. Grandma Mazur also frequents the local funeral parlors because they are the social center of the neighborhood. She sometimes peeks underneath the casket lid to see the dead body, causing hysteria in the parlor. Grandma Mazur is also the official owner of Big Blue, a '53 powder blue Buick that men love and women hate. The car is virtually indestructible, and Grandma Mazur got it from Stephanie's Grand Uncle Sandor. She moved in with Stephanie for a short periods of time during "Hot Six". She also occasionally watches pay-per-view porn, on account that "The Weather Channel doesn't have enough action". In several interviews, Evanovich says the inspiration for Grandma Mazur is "loosely based on my Aunt Lena and my Grandma Fanny," adding "She's who I want to be when I grow up."
Valerie
Valerie, Stephanie's older sister who moved to California after getting married, is mentioned briefly in the first six books as being the perfect daughter. For the first six books, Valerie lived in California. In
Seven Up, Valerie moves back in with her parents after a failed marriage, her two daughters - Angie and Mary Alice - in tow. Angie is much like Valerie was at her age, and Mary Alice has a vivid imagination more like her Aunt Stephanie. Valerie tries to become a lesbian in book seven but doesn't like it. Her husband is mentioned, but never appears in the books, as having run away with Angie's and Mary Alice's babysitter. In
Hard Eight, Valerie becomes bumbling lawyer Albert Kloughn
's (Pronounced, CLOWN) receptionist, and the two begin a relationship. In
Visions of Sugar Plums Valerie becomes pregnant with Kloughn's daughter, whom they name Lisa. In
Eleven on Top, Valerie and Kloughn cancel their wedding after a stressful bout of wedding planning, but are eventually tricked into getting married in
Plum Lovin' after Val gets pregnant with Kloughn's second child.
Stephanie's parents
Her mother, Ellen, and father, Frank, have the type of relationship built to last. Her father gets served first in exchange for getting to pretend he controls the house, and to keep him from stabbing Grandma Mazur with his fork. Her mother gets to cook and rule the house. Her mother thinks Stephanie should have a relationship like hers but Steph is skittish about marrying again. Her mother also wants Stephanie to get a nice, safe job and reminds her regularly, "They're hiring at the button factory!" Her father seems less concerned about Stephanie and her job. Stephanie's father also drives a cab part time to get away from Grandma Mazur and, later in the series, Valerie and Albert Kloughn when they move into Stephanie's parents' house.
Bob
Bob is a big golden retriever a policeman acquaintance conned Stephanie into dog-sitting for in Hot Six. The arrangement becomes permanent when the owner refuses to reclaim the dog, and Bob became a part of Stephanie's life. By
Seven Up, Bob had decided to move in with Joe Morelli, and he and Stephanie now have shared ownership of him. Bob has been described as a big, orange bottomless pit. He'll eat just about anything (including various items of clothing- thongs, socks, shoes and more!) and usually leaves big dog piles wherever he goes... which is why Stephanie likes to walk him on Joyce Barnhardt's lawn.
Rex
Stephanie's roommate/hamster. Spends most of his time sleeping in his soup can or running on his wheel. Known to bite when scared or frightened.
Romantic relationships
Joseph Morelli
Joe Morelli is Stephanie's on-and-off boyfriend, a former bad boy turned vice cop. He is also known as Officer Hottie or the Italian Stallion. Her history with Morelli started with a "choo choo" incident when she was six. At the age of sixteen, Stephanie lost her virginity to Morelli in the Tasty Pastry shop behind the éclair stand, after which he never called (but left quite a few flattering messages in bathroom and stadium walls around town). Three years later she saw Morelli and ran over him with her father's Buick, breaking his leg. A few years later in
One for the Money Morelli was suspected of murder and was her first FTA, and Stephanie chased him around town, much to his annoyance. Eventually, she turns him in (after locking him in a freezer truck with three bodies) and clears his name. In
Three To Get Deadly, she notices that he's stopped flirting and trying to get her into bed. After she asks him why, Morelli claims that "A man would have to be a total masochist to be interested in you", but by the end, he is interested in her again. Their relationship has since evolved into a romance that runs alternately passionately hot and ice cold. At various times, both Stephanie and Morelli have seriously considered marriage, but never at the same time. They both know they're not ready for commitment, but often comment on the idea together and have lived together more than once. Their relationship runs cold as a result of many arguments - usually over her job (She's been known to stress Morelli enough that he tends to takes Rolaids & Maalox and tells her that he is quickly deteriorating because of her) and they eventually lead to her relationship with Ranger. Being that both were born & bred in Trenton, whatever happens to/around her usually has a number of others calling Morelli to inform him - cars being blown, bodies being found, etc. He's said that he doesn't even need to listen to the radio anymore; he knows she's always involved (usually by some illegal means) and that he always gets calls about her and the latest situation she's in. By the later books, Morelli has resignedly accepted it to be almost normal, but it doesn't make him any less stressed or worried. Morelli has told her that he trusts
her, but he doesn't trust Ranger (same with Diesel) and she often has bouts of jealousy when Morelli's name is said with other women. She's been prone to sneaking around his house to spy when that happens. Later on, it appears that he has finally accepted her job (Not so much the Ranger part), but it doesn't keep him less worried or try less to protect her. In the more recent books, he often tag-teams with Ranger for her protection, much to her extreme annoyance at being shuffled back and forth between the two men like luggage. Stephanie also stays at his house often, which he inherited from his Aunt Rose. She comments on how he's different from his infamous Morelli male relatives and has domesticated since his "wild-oat sowing days." In
Seven Up, Stephanie and Joe announced their engagement under pressure from their families, but called off the wedding in book seven. When asked if Stephanie and Morelli will end up in a permanent relationship, Evanovich responds, "I don't want to tie Stephanie down to Morelli yet. Maybe some day, but certainly not for several more books." In
Twelve Sharp, Stephanie is finally able to tell Morelli that she loves him, but omits the part about how she loves Ranger as well.
Ranger
Ranger is Stephanie's fellow bounty hunter and tutor and sometimes known as Batman because of his mysterious ways. Ranger is Cuban-American, and drives a rotation of very expensive black cars (Stephanie has lingering questions about the origin of Ranger's car-supply, but he will only say 'Don't ask'). He is the C.E.O. of RangeMan, Inc., a security company (among other things). Ranger's real name is Ricardo Carlos Mañoso; in High Five we learn he has a daughter named Julie. Julie's mother is named Rachel and a stepfather named Ron; Ranger got her pregnant one night when he was in the military and on leave. Ranger married her and gave the baby his name and financial support. The two were divorced when the baby was born, but he visits when invited. Stephanie's relationship with Ranger, somewhere between boyfriend/girlfriend and teacher/pupil, provides much of her day-to-day stress, along with the almost constant threat of car bombing. Ranger says he loves Stephanie "in his own way" but isn't the marrying type. Even if she is on with Morelli, it doesn't stop Ranger from kissing or flirting with her, nor does she do much to discourage his advances. Regardless of his rivalry with Morelli, he has said that "Morelli is a good man" and is the marrying type Stephanie wants. Ranger does high-dollar or high-risk recovery for Vinnie, and sometimes lends Stephanie a hand with some of the more dangerous or slippery FTAs. He often assigns employees to guard or track her when she is in serious danger. Ranger "bleeds money" every time Stephanie requires protection, which is frequently; she minds, but he doesn't so much - she actually appears as a line item in his budget (where she's listed under "entertainment"). In some of the later novels, Stephanie moonlights for RangeMan during safety or financial dilemmas. As a result of him often coming to her aid or rescue, she has built up quite a tab with him and he has said that one day, he will collect. She also has a key to his seventh-floor apartment and sometimes goes there when she feels threatened. To him and his Merry Men, Stephanie is considered his "personal property" and he often tag-teams with Morelli for her protection. By "Twelve Sharp", after being kidnapped with Julie by a Ranger copycat, Stephanie realizes that she loves both Morelli and Ranger. More than once, she has acknowledged that she can't ever have the full family life she wants with Ranger (He has made it clear more than once that he won't settle down), but continues to associate with him anyway - much to Morelli's dismay.
Diesel
Diesel appears in the four holiday novellas:
Visions of Sugar Plums,
Plum Loving,
Plum Lucky, and
Plum Spooky. Originally born Swiss, he is described as "over six feet of gorgeous, hard-muscled, slightly tanned male" with brown eyes and thick, unruly sandy blond hair with a dangerous set of dimples. Although not nearly as significant as Morelli and Ranger, Diesel and Stephanie share a mild flirtation. But like Morelli and Ranger, he also has affectionate nicknames for her and is just as every bit amused at the situations she finds herself in. He has special abilities and his job is to track down fugitives with supernatural abilities, called Unmentionables. He pops up every once in a while in Stephanie's life and always sleeps in her bed when he's in town (staying at her apartment and sometimes going over to dinner at her parents'). In
Plum Lucky, when Stephanie mentions Diesel to Ranger, Ranger shows exasperation and when asked if he doesn't like Diesel, simply says, "We don't hang out together." After finding out about Stephanie's involvement with Diesel, Ranger warns her about Diesel's enemies. Stephanie has made it clear that she is not looking for a relationship (already possessing a boyfriend, to whom she is "practically married"
Twelve Sharp, and another, even more mysterious man in her life, whom she has admitted she also loves), but it hardly stops Diesel from making moves - sleeping on top of her in bed, somehow stealing her bra (while she's still wearing it), etc. In
Plum Spooky, she and Diesel babysit Carl the monkey and get stuck caring for other monkeys they pick up as well. When Ranger finds out that Diesel has been carting the monkeys around, he "looked like he might burst out laughing again." After she is seen with him at Pino's in
Plum Spooky, Morelli gets several calls informing him and is also none too happy about Diesel's living arrangements with her when he's around. But like Morelli, Diesel resorted to Pepto-Bismol worrying over Stephanie's safety in "Plum Spooky" (after telling her he was getting an ulcer because of her). He thinks it's amusing that she's so gullible about his paranormal abilities. Despite her ongoing romantic entanglements with two men already, Diesel doesn't mind trying to get her into bed as well and constantly flirts with her.
Friends and colleagues
Lula
Lula was introduced as a minor character working as a hooker in the first book in the series,
One For the Money. In
Two For the Dough, she becomes Vinnie's filing clerk and Stephanie's sometimes partner. Stephanie refers to her as a plus-sized black woman who attempts to shove a size 16 body into size 10 spandex. She reappears in later books after she begins to work as a file clerk at the bail bonds office. The other file clerk quit after Vinnie attempted to sexually harass her. Lula is a poor file clerk, and frequently accompanies Stephanie when she is going after bonded clients who haven't shown up for their court appearance (known colloquially as Failure to Appear, or FTAs). By the 11th book, Lula has worked her way up into being a full time bounty hunter and takes over for Stephanie after she quits working as a bounty hunter. Eventually Stephanie returns to the job, and Lula goes back to being the file clerk and Stephanie's sometime partner.
Connie Rosolli
Connie is Vinnie's receptionist/guard dog. Her ties to the Mafia are hinted at but never fully explored. She is short and curvy with a hairy upper lip. Stephanie went to school with her little sister Tina. She is occasionally described as Betty Boop with a moustache.
Mary Lou
Mary Lou Stankovic is Stephanie's best friend. Married to Lenny Stankovic with children and a dog. Stephanie occasionally pays her a visit, usually to talk about Morelli. Maiden name is Mary Lou Molnar.
Vinnie PlumVinnie is the owner of Vincent Plum's Bail Bonds, where Stephanie is employed. He is also Stephanie's cousin, and he can barely tolerate his employees. He's rumored to have had a romantic relationship with a duck and is usually locked away in his office talking with his bookie; taking a snooze or having a conversation with his "Johnson".
List of Books In Order
- (1995). One For the Money
- (1996). Two For the Dough
- (1997). Three to Get Deadly.
- (1998). Four to Score.
- (1999). High Five.
- (2000). Hot Six.
- (2001). Seven Up.
- (2002). Hard Eight.
- (2003). Visions of Sugar Plums. A short Christmas special.
- (2003). To the Nines.
- (2004). Ten Big Ones.
- (2005). Eleven on Top.
- (2006). Twelve Sharp.
- (2007). Plum Lovin'.
- (2007). Lean Mean Thirteen.
- (2008). Plum Lucky.
- (2008). Fearless Fourteen.
- (2009). Plum Spooky.
- (2009). Finger-Lickin' Fifteen.
- (2010). Sizzling Sixteen.
- (2011). Smokin' Seventeen.
