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New Jersey bail-bonds office worker Lula is a witness to celebrity chef, Stanley Chipotle, losing his head, literally. Now Lula and Stephanie Plum, a bond enforcement officer, are on the hunt to identify the killers before Lula is next on the chopping block. Meantime, security expert Carlos... read more

Summary edit see section history

"Unbuckle you belt and pull up a chair. It's the spiciest, sauciest, most rib-sticking Plum yet..."

RECIPE FOR DISASTER

Celebrity chef Stanley Chipotle comes to Trenton to participate in a barbecue cook-off and loses his head--literally.

THROW IN SOME SPICE

Bail bonds... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

"Unbuckle you belt and pull up a chair. It's the spiciest, sauciest, most rib-sticking Plum yet..."

RECIPE FOR DISASTER

Celebrity chef Stanley Chipotle comes to Trenton to participate in a barbecue cook-off and loses his head--literally.

THROW IN SOME SPICE

Bail bonds office worker Lula is witness to the crime, and the only one she'll talk to is Trenton cop Joe Morelli.

PUMP UP THE HEAT

The reward for capturing Chipotle's killers: One million dollars.

STIR THE POT

Lula recruits bounty hunter Stephanie Plum to help her find the killers and collect the moolah.

ADD A SECRET INGREDIENT

Stephanie's Grandma Mazur. Enough said.

BRING TO A BOIL

Stephanie's working overtime tracking felons for the bonds office at night and snooping for security expert Carlos Manoso, aka Ranger, during the day. Can she hunt down two killers, a traitor, and five skips, keep her grandmother out of the sauce, and solve Ranger's problems and not jump his bones?

WARNING

Habanero hot. So good you'll want seconds.

Characters edit see section history

  • Stephanie Plum: Protagonist: bounty hunter, car destroyer, all around hilarious person.
  • Ranger: A studly bounty hunter, owner of RangeMan Security. Stephanie's part-time love interest. Dresses all in black. Described by Stephanie as YUM!
  • Joe Morelli: Studmuffin cop with a good sense of humor. A most of the time love interest of Stephanie.
  • Lula: Stephanie's hilarious sidekick. A ho in a former life but now does filing for Vinnie whenever she feels like it.
  • Grandma Mazur: Stephanie's hilarious grandmother who is always getting into trouble.
  • Larry: He's Clucky the Cluck-In-A-Bucket Chicken Mascot by day and a firefighter by night. Also a cross dresser who likes Lula's collection
  • Vincent Plum: Owner of the bail bonds place Stephanie, Lula, Connie, Ranger work for. He's a little slimy and likes fornicating with animals
  • Ramon: A Rangeman employee...watches the monitors and helps protect Stephanie.
  • Myron Kaplan: A 78 year old FTA. Held up his dentist because of a bad set of false teeth.
  • Mister Clucky: The Cluck-In-A-Bucket Mascot, hated by most, loved by Lula. AKA Larry
  • Joyce Barnhardt: Stephanie's rival shows up to claim Morelli, the FTA's, and the million dollar reward. Caught with Dickie before the ink with dry on the marriage certificate
  • Hal: Another Rangeman Employee...protector of Stephanie. One of Ranger's younger employees who embarrasses easily. Also faints at blood
  • Ella: She is in charge of Ranger and his property. She does all domestic things like stocking the fridge, buying clothes, cleaning, laundry etc...
  • Marco the Maniac: Lula witnesses him decapating Stanley Chippolte. Likes using a meat cleaver
  • Zito Dudley: Involved in the BBQ business.
  • Peter Pecker: One of the guy that Mrs. Plum invites to dinner in hopes that Stephanie will settle down and have a normal life. Does not work and lives with his parents
  • Stanley Chipoltle: Murder victim; well-known barbeque king
  • Dillon Ruddick: Super. at Stephanie's building who will do "almost anything" for a six-pack.
  • Eddie Gazarra: Cop friend of Stephanie who is married to her cousin, Shirley the Whiner
  • Lenny Skulnik: Add a description of this character.
  • Wesley
  • Harry
  • Louis
  • Rex: Stephanie's hamster. Spends most his time in his can.
  • Carl Costanza: Trenton cop
  • WILLIAM DUFFY
  • Chester Deuce
  • Lucille
  • Kenny Hatcher
  • Melvin Miklowski
  • Pookey Brown
  • Eli Morton: New owner of funeral parlor
  • Tammy
  • Ernie Dell
  • Mickey Bolan
  • Cameron Manfred
  • Tank: Rangeman employee. Big and silent for the most part.
  • Louanne Harmon
  • Betty Garvey
  • Junior Turley
  • Milton
  • Sybo Diaz: Works for Ranger's security company, Rangeman
  • Bob: Morelli's dog
  • Anthony
  • Stanley Chipotle: Sauce chef
  • Constantine Stiva: Old owner of funeral parlor
Show all 46 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “You get to an age and you look forward to seeing a winkie at four in the afternoon when you're peeling potatoes for supper.”
    Grandma Mazur
  • “Then I had to decide if I need to wear shoes that kicked ass or were good for ass kicking, on account of there's a difference you know.”
    Lula
  • “You think I'm gonna feel better eatin' a carrot? Get a grip. There's two idiots out there trying to kill me, and think I'm gonna waste my last breath on a vegetable?”
    Lula
  • “No need to negatize it.”
    LuLa
  • “Your hat's on fire, You look like one of them cookout marshmallows.”
    Grandma Mazur
  • “I'm serving the public, investigating murders, and you're working for... Batman.”
    Morelli
  • “I don't mind if you wear the flak vest, but I'm not riding around with you in the helmet. You look like Darth Vader.”
    Stephanie
  • “"You know how when you toast a marshmallow it catches fire and gets all black and melted?""Yeah.""That would be my car."”
    Stephanie and Ranger
  • “You leave now, and you don't get dessert...ever.”
    Stephanie's Mom
  • “You look fine. The silver sequined top and matching skirt is just right for an evening decapitation identification.”
    Stephanie to Lula
  • “Ranger looked like he was thinking about smiling. His attention focussed on the top of my towel and slowly moved to the bottom hem that hung a half-inch below my doodah. His brown eyes dilated black, and I took a stronger grip on my towel.”
    Stephanie Plum
  • “Ranger and I have three things in common. We're the same age. We're both single. And we both were previously married for about ten seconds. That's where the common ground ends. I'm an open book with a lot of blank pages. His book is filled with life experience but written in disappearing ink. I have three locks on my front door, plus a sliding bolt, and I was sure they were all in place. Somehow, this never stops Ranger. He's a man of mysterious talents.”
    Stephanie Plum
  • “Ranger crooked his finger at me. "Come here." "No way." "Afraid?" "Cautious." "That's no fun," Ranger said. "I didn't know you were interested in fun." There was a slight curve to the corners of his mouth. "I have my moments." I had a big, cuddly pink robe in my closet, but I had to cross in front of Ranger to get to it. I wasn't worried Ranger would jump me. My fear was that if I got too close, I'd get sucked into his force field, and I'd jump him. And jumping Ranger was a dangerous deal.”
    Ranger and Stephanie
  • “Anyways, we were just about to leave and who do you think walked in? Junior Turley, your exhibitionist FTA. I didn't recognize him at first. It was your granny who spotted him. And she said she almost missed him, bein' he had all his clothes on. She said usually he's in her backyard waving his winkie at her when she's at the kitchen window. And she said she wouldn't mind seeing his winkie up close to make a positive identification, but I thought we should wait until you got here."”
    Lula. to Stephanie
  • “Well, what the heck is wrong with this dress?" Lula said a couple of minutes later. "I can't get this thing together." I opened my eyes and Lula had the dress on, but it wasn't zipped. There was fat bulging out everywhere, and Larry had his knee against Lula's back and was two-handling the zipper, trying to pull it up. "Suck it in," Larry said. "I have this problem sometimes too." "I'm all sucked," Lula said. "I can't suck no more." Veins were standing out in Larry's temples and bulging in his neck. "I'm getting it," he said "I can press two hundred pounds, and there's no reason why I can't get this zipper closed." The heck there wasn't. The dress wasn't made out of spandex. And even spandex had limits.”
    Stephanie Plum
  • “Being a senior citizen in Jersey is a lot like belonging to the Mob. A certain attitude is expected. If you don't respect a Mob member in Jersey, you could get shot. If you don't respect a senior, they'll ram a shopping cart into your car, rear-end you at a light, and deliberately block you from going down the nonprescription meds aisle by idling in the middle of it in their motorized basketed bumper cars while they pretend to read the label on the Advil box.”
    Stephanie Plum
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • Copyright Dedication
    Highlighted by 159 Kindle customers
  • Finger Lickin’ Fifteen Cover
    Highlighted by 148 Kindle customers
  • One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four
    Highlighted by 100 Kindle customers
  • Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen
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  • Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty
    Highlighted by 46 Kindle customers
  • cellulite, Joe Morelli’s Grandma Bella, rabid bats, and any form of organized exercise.
    Highlighted by 14 Kindle customers
  • “It’d be less painful than eating these burned black, tastes like monkey shit, dry as an old maid’s fart bones.”
    Highlighted by 9 Kindle customers
  • facaca. “Gotta go,” I said to
    Highlighted by 9 Kindle customers
  • full-page spread in Home Beautiful, but it’s all I’ve got. Bad enough I have Lula in it. Lula and Grandma together are total
    Highlighted by 6 Kindle customers
  • CONNIE DROVE A silver Camry with rosary beads hanging from her rear view mirror and a Smith & Wesson stuck under the driver’s seat. No matter what went down, Connie was covered.
    Highlighted by 6 Kindle customers
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Setting & Locations edit see section history

Trenton New Jersey

First Sentence edit see section history

When I was a kid, I was afraid of spiders and vegetables.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 15 of 20 in Stephanie Plum by the Numbers. (standard series)

Preceded by Fearless Fourteen, and followed by Sizzling Sixteen.

This is book 7 of 10 in Publishers Weekly Bestselling Novels in 2009. (authoritative list)
This is book 59 of 145 in Whitcoulls Top 100 (2011). (authoritative list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Janet Evanovich (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Country: United States
Publication Date: June 23, 2009
ISBN: 978-0312383282
Page Count: 308

Classification edit see section history

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

   
  • One for the Money
  • Two for the Dough
  • Three to Get Deadly
  • Four to Score
  • High Five
  • Hot Six
  • Seven Up
  • Hard Eight
  • To the Nines
  • Ten Big Ones
  • Eleven on Top
  • Twelve Sharp
  • Lean Mean Thirteen
  • Fearless Fourteen

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