One for the Money is the first novel by Janet Evanovich featuring the bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. It was published in 1994 in the United States and in 1995 in Great Britain. Like its successors, Two for the Dough and Three to Get Deadly, One for the Money is a long-time best-seller, appearing for 75 consecutive weeks on the USA Today list of 150 best-selling novels, peaking at number 13.
Before this novel, Evanovich wrote 11 category romance novels. She then "ran out of sexual positions and decided to move into the mystery genre." Before writing One for the Money, her first mystery novel, Evanovich spent two years investigating the world of law enforcement, shadowing both bail enforcement agents and the Trenton police, observing their actions and the equipment they carried. She also learned how to shoot a gun.
One for the Money was named a New York Times Notable Book, a Publishers Weekly "Best Book of 1994," and a USA Today "Best Bet." For this book, Evanovich also won the 1995 Dilys Award, one of only three authors to do so for their first mystery (the others being Julia Spencer-Fleming and Louise Penny).
This novel introduced characters that would frequent the subsequent novels. As of 2020, there have been 27 published novels, four novellas, and one short story in the Stephanie Plum series.
Contents
Plot summary
Stephanie Plum, laid off from her job as a lingerie buyer for a Newark department store, applies for a filing job with her cousin Vinnie, a bail bondsman. Vinnie's assistant, Connie, tells her the job is taken, but suggests she work as a bounty hunter, apprehending clients who have failed to appear for their court dates. Stephanie is excited to learn that Joe Morelli, a Trenton vice cop and onetime sexual acquaintance of hers, is FTA and facing charges for murder one. Vinnie initially refuses to give her a job, but Morelli's bounty is $10,000, which Stephanie desperately needs, so she blackmails Vinnie into employing her, by threatening to expose his "addiction to kinky sex" to his unsuspecting wife.
Staking out Morelli's apartment, Stephanie follows his cousin, Mooch, to Morelli's hideout and finds him quickly, but is humiliated when he laughs off her demand that she come with him, pointing out (correctly) that she has neither the equipment nor the training to apprehend an unwilling fugitive. Connie puts her in touch with Vinnie's "star" bounty hunter, Ricardo Manoso, a.k.a. "Ranger", who gives her a crash-course in bounty hunting. He also buys Stephanie her first gun, a compact Smith & Wesson revolver, and fills her in on Morelli's alleged crime: shooting an unarmed man, Ziggy Kuleska, at the apartment of a prostitute, Carmen Sanchez. Morelli claims that Ziggy was armed and Morelli shot him in self-defense, but no gun was recovered at the crime scene. Stephanie's friend, police officer Eddie Gazarra, advises her that Morelli is likely going around Trenton, trying to find witnesses who will clear his name, so her best bet at finding him is to follow the same trail.
Stephanie's first stop is a boxing gym on Stark Street (Trenton's roughest neighborhood) to interview champion boxer Benito Ramirez and his manager Jimmy Alpha, both known associates of Ziggy Kuleska. Her interview with Ramirez quickly turns ugly when he assaults her, but she is rescued by Morelli, who disappears almost as quickly as he appeared.
Exploring Morelli's apartment with Ranger, Stephanie decides to "commandeer" Morelli's Jeep Grand Cherokee, counting on trapping him when he tries to steal it back. Instead, he catches her unaware in the shower and leaves her handcuffed, naked, to the curtain rod, forcing her to call Ranger for help.
She continues to follow the trail of possible witnesses to Morelli's crime, but is shaken when two of the witnesses are later found dead, and Lula, a prostitute working on Stark Street that she spoke with, is hung outside her apartment window, raped and beaten nearly to death. When Stephanie returns home from the hospital, Morelli is there, and offers her a deal: his movements have become too restricted, so if she helps him investigate and clear his name, he will let her bring him into custody and collect the bounty.
Car death(s)
Stephanie's Mazda Miata: repossessed;
Morelli's Jeep Grand Cherokee: destroyed by a car bomb.
Failure-to-Appear (FTA) assignments
Joe Morelli: First degree murder
Clarence Sampson: DUI
Lonnie Dodd: auto theft
William Earling: indecent exposure
Film adaptation
A film adaptation was produced by Tom Rosenberg for Lakeshore Entertainment, with Katherine Heigl playing the role of Stephanie Plum. Additional cast members included Jason O'Mara as Morelli, Sherri Shepherd as Lula, Daniel Sunjata as Ranger, Patrick Fischler as Vinnie Plum, John Leguizamo as Jimmy Alpha, and Debbie Reynolds as Grandma Mazur. Describing the fit of her books to film, Janet explained, 'I'm an entertainer.. When I write, it's a movie to me. I even started doing dialogue by going on stage and doing improv.'
The film was released on January 27, 2012 to universally negative reviews from critics and was a box office disappointment.
Development
Janet Evanovich started the Stephanie Plum series after writing a series of romance novels. She wrote Stephanie as 'sassy and smart-mouthed', the 'Indiana Jones of Trenton'. The mystery genre appealed to her as a way to include humor, romance and adventure in her work.
Critical reception
Publishers Weekly's positive review noted One for the Money for its humor, as well as its dialogue: 'astute and raunchy,'
Awards and nominations
One for the Money won the 1995 Dilys Award presented by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.