#AtoZ Challenge - Fiction to Film - One for the Money

 V is for One for the Money by Janet EVanoVich

Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series began in 1994 with One for the Money and is now on book #28 Game On.  Book #29 is scheduled for release near the end of 2022.

I've read the entire series, and several of the books more than once.  I love a humorous mystery!  Stephanie Plum is in "bond enforcement", tracking down folks who bail out of jail on a bond written by her cousin Vinnie and who subsequently fail to show up for a court appearance.  Since Vinnie wrote the bond, failing to appear [FTA] means Vinnie has to pay the entire bail amount to the court unless he can find the fugitive and haul him/her back to jail.

Stephanie is a novice on better days, and inept the rest of the time.  But she has no fear and does what needs to be done to nab her quarry.

In One for the Money, Stephanie lost her job as a lingerie buyer and is on the edge of eviction.  She needs a job, and Vinnie has one - find the FTAs and bring them back to jail, and he'll pay her 10% of the bond value.  Because she has no experience, he wants to give her the easy, "low bond" folks.  But Stephanie needs the money so she wants Joe Morelli, a cop who the paperwork says shot an unarmed man.  He's also Stephanie's ex-flame from high school.  His bond is $500,000 which means if Stephanie can bring him in, she gets $50,000.

I laughed so hard the first time I read this book, and even on subsequent reads I'm still laughing.  The dinner scene with Grandma Mazur and the chicken is hysterically funny.

The movie was released in 2012, starring Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum.  It doesn't 100% track the book but is reasonably true to the story.  The aforementioned dinner scene made it into the movie, but doesn't have near the laugh factor as it does in the book.

I found the movie moved too fast.  The book takes the time to develop the characters and their relationships, without bogging down or moving too slowly.  The movie seems to move way too quickly.  I know a movie audience won't tolerate a slow pace, but I bounced from one scene to the next without enough time to appreciate the cause/effect relationships between the scenes, never mind the characters.

The movie has a bonus feature containing interviews with actual bail bond recovery agents, which I found really interesting.

It's still a fun movie and I'll watch it again.  But if you've only seen the movie, do yourself a favor and read the book!

Have you done both?  Did you like the book better?  Let us know in the comments!