Four to Score (Stephanie Plum, No. 4)
Posted by Zephyrus on August 6, 2008
Four to Score
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Editorial Reviews
Stephanie Plum, the trash-talking New Jersey bail bondswoman of this popular series, is tracking Maxine Nowicki, who’s wanted for skipping out on a car-theft charge lodged by her ex-boyfriend. Now the ex-boyfriend’s very interested in getting back the love letters he supposedly wrote to Maxine. But what he’s really looking for is the secret on which Evanovich hangs her screwball cast of colorful minor characters, including Sally Sweet, a cross-dressing drag queen; Lula, the 250-pound ex-hooker who works for Steph’s boss; Cousin Vinnie, the bail bondsman; Grandma Mazur, who packs a Glock and is always looking for a little action; and Joyce, a wannabe bounty hunter who’s been cramping Steph’s style since she played pass the salami with Steph’s ex-husband. The action doesn’t get much farther from Trenton than the Jersey Shore, but when Steph’s apartment and car are blown up by the others on Maxine’s trail and she moves in with Joe Morelli, the handsome, arrogant cop she’s been hung up on since high school, it gets hotter than the craps table in Atlantic City. Plum’s fans won’t be disappointed in this fourth outing in the series, and they’re likely to be even more interested in the snappy patter and sexy shenanigans than in the mystery that holds it all together. –Jane Adams –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Half-Hungarian, half-Italian and all-Jersey, Trenton’s best-known bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum, is a raucous delight in this fast-paced sequel to Three to Get Deadly (1997). There’s no such thing as a simple assignment for Stephanie. When Maxine Nowicki, charged with stealing her boyfriend’s car, skips her court appearance, she’s fair game to be hauled in?no big challenge, thinks Stephanie. Wrong. Before the case is over, Stephanie will invade an Atlantic City casino with her intrepid allies: sneaker-shod Grandma Mazur; her colleague Lula, “a two-hundred pound black woman with blond baloney curls all dressed up like Cher on a bad day”; and Sally, a seven-foot transvestite rock singer. Although Stephanie is the bounty hunter, she’s the only one of the quartet who isn’t armed. She also loses another car and her apartment, moves in with handsome cop and longtime love interest, Joe Morelli (causing a stir in his family and hers), has several memorable run-ins with arch rival Joyce Barnhardt, discovers a corpse and, finally, catches her quarry. With her brash exterior and high emotionality, Stephanie Plum is a welcome antidote to suave professional PIs. The supporting cast members, eccentric and recognizable, are as entertaining as those devised by Westlake and Leonard. Major ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
The New York Times Book Review, Marilyn Stasio
…[a] brashly funny adventure… –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From AudioFile
When bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is hired to search for missing waitress Maxine Nowicki, Plum’s life becomes more complicated than she ever expected. This fourth novel in the Stephanie Plum mystery series is brimming with coarse and comic humor. C.J. Critt extends the spoken word to Grandma Mazur, hot cop Joe Morelli, transvestite rock musician Sally Sweet, and a myriad of colorful characters, supporting each with wily expression. The action never lets up as danger abounds, with crisp, clear dialogue delineating the plot to the final episode. B.J.L. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine– Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine –This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
From Kirkus Reviews
Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, Trenton’s answer to sweeps week, is on the trail of Maxine Nowicki, who failed to appear in court on a charge of boosting her ex-boyfriend Eddie Kuntz’s car. Like most of the quarry Stephanie tracks for her cousin Vinnie, Maxine hasn’t gone far. Not only does she keep popping up to taunt and threaten Stephanie, but she’s even arranged a little treasure hunt for Eddie: If he follows the puzzling clues she sends him, he’ll get back his mushy old love letters. Stephanie, who doesn’t sell herself cheap, takes $1,000 from Eddie to help decipher the clues, but wonders if helping him is such a good idea, since so many of Maxine’s nearest and dearest–her mother, her friend Marjorie, the 7-Eleven manager who last saw Maxine–are turning up dead or mutilated, and Stephanie herself is getting harassed, vandalized, and firebombed. In another universe, such wholesale mayhem would be cause for alarm, but for Stephanie it’s just so many setup lines for the real questions: Will Stephanie beat her archrival, trampy skip-tracer Joyce Barnhardt, to Maxine? Has longtime lust object Joe Morelli’s grandmother gotten Stephanie pregnant by putting the Evil Eye on her? And will Stephanie ever look as foxy as the two transvestite puzzle-solvers she’s got in her corner? Counterfeiting, drugs, extortion, kidnaping, homicide, reckless endangerment–all of it hilariously featherweight. Evanovich (Three to Get Deadly, 1997, etc.) never met a felony she couldn’t top with an unbeatable laugh. ($350,000 ad/promo; author tour) — Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, David Delman
As delicious a Plum pudding as we’ve had yet. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
Review
“Stephanie Plum is back, smart-mouthed, swaggering, and saucy as ever…Top-notch fun.”–Booklist (starred review)
“A winner.”–Glamour
“A Plum choice.”–USA Today
Product Description
From the Inside Flap
–This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From the Back Cover
–This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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