Ten Big Ones

Stephanie Plum works as a bounty hunter in Trenton, New Jersey, and she has already wrecked a dozen cars on the job. Her mother worries she will end up dead, or worse, unmarried. A quick trip with her partner Lula to a deli-mart for nachos puts both women in the middle of a robbery. It ends in an explosion and one more destroyed car.

The day does not stay ordinary. A gang now has Stephanie in its sights, and a more dangerous menace has arrived in Trenton: a killer known as the Junkman. She is hunting him while he may be hunting her.

Her usual allies are out of reach. Ranger, the top bounty hunter, is out of town, and she is on the outs with Morelli, the vice cop. Alone, she has to decide how to protect herself and where to hide. The one safe place carries Ranger's name all over it, but she has to find it first.

Lula rides along, and Grandma Mazur is loose and adding trouble of her own. This is a comic crime novel with a mystery at its center, told in a brisk, wisecracking voice, with a ticking clock behind the humor. It is billed as the most suspenseful entry yet in the Stephanie Plum series.