Twelve Sharp

"Twelve Sharp" is the twelfth Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich, published in 2006. Trenton's most-recovered, most-exploded bounty hunter is trying to track down a female stalker — a stranger who walks into Plum's office claiming to be Mrs. Ranger Manoso. Ranger has vanished, his daughter has been kidnapped, and Stephanie finds herself in the middle of the most dangerous case of her career while her on-again-off-again romance with Joe Morelli holds on by a thread.

Evanovich's signature blend of slapstick, food, family, and serious thriller stakes is fully operational here. The book sits in the Plum series' acknowledged sweet spot — books eight through fifteen — when Evanovich was at her sharpest with the supporting cast: Grandma Mazur, Lula, Connie, Vinnie, Bob the dog, and the Burg itself.

"Twelve Sharp" is one of the rare entries where the Ranger storyline moves substantially forward, and readers who came for the romance triangle get a payoff. It pairs naturally with Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone series, Lisa Lutz's Spellman Files, and Sophie Hannah's lighter procedural work.

Search-friendly notes: "twelve sharp janet evanovich review," "stephanie plum series reading order," "is twelve sharp worth reading," "janet evanovich best books ranked," "stephanie plum and ranger book." A high point of the long-running series.