Quick Take
- Narration: Lorelei King’s Stephanie Plum narration is one of the most successful long-running character voices in audiobook comedy, she has been playing this role long enough that the performance is effortless in the best sense.
- Themes: Comedic incompetence as a lifestyle, small-town crime and larger-than-life characters, the romantic triangle as an ongoing condition
- Mood: Bouncy and irreverent, with the comfortable rhythm of a series that knows exactly what it is
- Verdict: A solid and somewhat revitalized entry in a long series, funny, fast, and best appreciated by readers already invested in Stephanie’s world.
I have a complicated relationship with long-running genre series. I love what they offer, the comfort of a familiar world, the accumulated weight of character relationships that span hundreds of hours of fictional time, but I am also realistic about what happens when a series reaches its nineteenth installment. The law of diminishing returns is real. The Stephanie Plum novels have not been immune to it, and some readers I respect have described the middle stretch of the series as a period of coasting. Notorious Nineteen, based on the reviews available, seems to represent something of a course correction.
The setup is characteristically Evanovich: Geoffrey Cubbin, facing trial for embezzling from an assisted-living facility, vanishes after emergency surgery in a way that defies apparent possibility. Fortune Redding this is not: Stephanie Plum is a New Jersey bounty hunter whose relationship with her own competence is one of the franchise’s central running jokes, and the mystery of Cubbin’s disappearance is one she approaches with her signature combination of persistence, luck, and spectacular collateral damage. Grandma Mazur goes undercover at the assisted-living facility. Morelli and Ranger circle the perimeter of Stephanie’s professional and personal life. Taffeta appears in large quantities.
Our Take on Notorious Nineteen
What makes this installment work better than some of its predecessors, according to readers who have tracked the series, is that Evanovich writes like she means it again. The mystery plot is more intricate than the series had been delivering for a few installments, with a second disappearance adding complexity rather than just padding, and the comic sequences, particularly those involving Grandma Mazur in full undercover mode, are among the better slapstick writing the series has produced.
One reviewer who has read every book in the series noted that this one inspired them to go back and reread the entire run, which is a significant statement about its quality relative to the surrounding installments. That kind of retroactive enthusiasm suggests not just that Notorious Nineteen is good but that it reconnects with what the series does well at its best: the joke is not that Stephanie is simply incompetent, but that the world she moves through is so chaotic that competence itself becomes a moving target.
Why Listen to Notorious Nineteen
Lorelei King’s narration is the defining reason to choose audio for the Stephanie Plum series. She has been with this character since the beginning, and at nineteen books in, her performance has the ease and authority of complete ownership. King knows when to play the comedy broadly and when to let a quieter joke breathe, and her voice for Grandma Mazur, who is one of the franchise’s greatest comedic assets, is a complete and fully realized character portrait. If you have been listening to this series on audio, there is no reason to change at book nineteen. If you are starting here, King’s narration is as good a reason as any to begin at the beginning rather than jumping in mid-series.
The book’s pacing is also notably good in audio. Evanovich writes in short chapters with high incident density, which creates a rhythm that sustains attention well and makes the listen feel faster than its six hours.
What to Watch For in Notorious Nineteen
The Morelli-Ranger love triangle is, by book nineteen, what it has always been: a permanent condition rather than a developing narrative. Long-time fans who wanted resolution have largely made their peace with the series’ refusal to provide it. New readers who expect narrative momentum on this front will be frustrated. This is a feature of the franchise, not a bug Evanovich is unaware of, but it is worth knowing before you start that the romantic situation is not going to clarify itself here or, based on all available evidence, anywhere in the foreseeable future.
Entry point matters more in this series than in most. Notorious Nineteen is not a good starting point. The weight of eighteen previous books of accumulated relationships and running jokes is part of what makes the humor work, and coming in cold will mean missing a significant portion of what the comic machinery is doing. Listeners who want to try the series should begin with One for the Money and work forward.
Who Should Listen to Notorious Nineteen
This is for existing Stephanie Plum fans who may have drifted away from the series during what some have described as its quieter middle period, and who are wondering whether it is worth returning. Based on this installment, the answer is yes. It is also for listeners already committed to working through the series who need reassurance that installment nineteen is not where the wheels fall off. They do not. Lorelei King’s narration remains one of the best reasons to stay in audio rather than switch to print, and the book delivers exactly what nineteen installments of earned expectation promises: chaos, laughter, a mystery that resolves satisfyingly, and Stephanie still standing at the end of it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Notorious Nineteen a good entry point for readers who have never read the Stephanie Plum series?
No. The comedy and character dynamics in Notorious Nineteen depend significantly on accumulated series context, including the Morelli-Ranger triangle, Grandma Mazur’s established persona, and years of running jokes. New readers will enjoy it more if they start with One for the Money, the first installment, and work forward.
Has the series quality declined significantly by book nineteen, or is this still worth the time?
Longtime readers generally describe Notorious Nineteen as a return to form after a softer mid-series period. The mystery plot is more constructed than some recent entries, and the comedy has more energy. It is not the peak of the series, which most readers place in the first ten installments, but it represents a genuine recovery rather than continued decline.
Does the Morelli versus Ranger situation advance or resolve in Notorious Nineteen?
No. The romantic triangle remains in its characteristic state of productive stasis. Stephanie works with both men across this installment, the tension is present, but no resolution is offered. This is consistent with every previous installment and almost certainly every future one. If you have made peace with this, you will be fine. If you have not, no amount of good mystery plotting will compensate.
Is Lorelei King’s narration consistent with her performance in earlier installments of the series?
Yes. King’s work across the Stephanie Plum series is remarkably consistent, and by book nineteen her command of the characters, particularly Grandma Mazur, Lula, and Ranger, is complete. Long-time audio fans will find exactly the performance they expect. Newcomers starting here will find a narrator who sounds like she has been living with these characters for years, because she has.
