"My name is Stephanie Plum, and I work as a bond enforcement agent, also known as a bounty hunter, for my cousin Vinny. It's not a great job, but it has its moments, and if I mooch food off my parents the job almost pays enough to get me through the month. It would pay a lot more but the truth is, I'm not all that good at it." Chapter 1, p. 2.

"Sometimes I moonlight for a guy named Ranger who's extremely bad in an incredibly good way. He's a security expert, and a bounty hunter, and he moves like smoke. Ranger is milk chocolate on the outside...a delicious, tempting, forbidden pleasure. And no one knows what's on the inside. Ranger keeps his own counsel." Chapter 1, p. 2.

"Joyce was flesh-eating fungus. She'd been through more husbands than I could count, and each time she chewed them up and...