What happens when a celebrity chef murder, a million-dollar barbecue contest and the most accident-prone bounty hunter in New Jersey land in the same novel? You get Finger Lickin’ Fifteen by Janet Evanovich. It is the fifteenth installment in the Stephanie Plum series, and the formula fires on all cylinders. Mostly.
On Goodreads the book holds 4.03 out of 5 from nearly 97,000 ratings. Once you’re a few chapters in, it’s easy to see why fans keep coming back. Evanovich loves to stir the pot, and this time she does it with a basting brush.
What Is Finger Lickin’ Fifteen About?
Celebrity chef Stanley Chipotle comes to Trenton to participate in a barbecue cook-off and loses his head. Literally. Stephanie’s friend Lula witnesses the murder, and now the killers want her gone too.
Then Chipotle’s sponsor is offering a million-dollar reward to anyone who can provide information leading to the capture of the killers. Lula recruits bounty hunter Stephanie Plum to help her collect the bounty. Her plan is wonderfully ridiculous. Lula decides to enter the cook-off herself, invent a winning sauce, and catch the killers along the way. Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur signs up at once. Connie from the bail bonds office joins in, and Stephanie is dragged along, trying to keep her grandmother out of trouble.
Lula can’t cook. She is attacked more than once by the very inept killers. She has to move in with Stephanie, then with the Plum family. Numerous cars explode, as they tend to do in this series. It’s a recipe for disaster, served with obvious glee.
Ranger, Rangeman and a Traitor on the Inside
The second plot belongs to Ranger. Several of Ranger’s clients have had their homes burglarized, and he suspects a traitor among his own men. He asks Stephanie to come back to Rangeman as a pretext to snoop around.
So she ends up working overtime tracking felons for the bonds office at night and snooping for security expert Carlos Manoso. She has to solve Ranger’s problems and not jump his bones, which is harder than it sounds. This subplot gives the book some procedural grip and keeps a few genuinely tense moments amid the sauce-tasting.
Joe Morelli, the Trenton cop, is never far away either. The Stephanie and Morelli thread moves only a little, but the ending gives longtime readers something to smile about.
Our Finger Lickin’ Fifteen Review: Barbecue and Belly Laughs
What sets this entry apart is food. Lula’s attempts at a prize-winning rib sauce, hunting for the secret ingredient, give the book its funniest scenes. Even the official blurb reads like a recipe. It is comfort food in book form, and it ranks #47 on the Goodreads Best Cozy Mystery list.
The humor is broad, slapstick and often wacky. Grandma, who lives for funerals and chaos, is a delight in every scene. Lula’s personality and fashion choices never get old. We laugh out loud more than once per chapter. If you come to these books for the usual zany fun, this one delivers.
The weak points are the familiar ones. By book fifteen, Stephanie is still broke and still won’t choose between Morelli and Ranger. Some reviewers find the jokes more juvenile than in earlier books. The mystery takes a back seat to the comic set pieces. You get a bit of mystery, a lot of shenanigans, and a murder played for dark comedy.
The audiobook is a treat. Lorelei King, the long-time narrator of the Plum books, has spot-on New Jersey accents and sharp comic timing.
Who is it for? If you love this cast, it will feel like a warm hug from an old friend. Fans of Jana DeLeon’s Miss Fortune books or Elle Cosimano’s Finlay Donovan series will find the same chaotic energy. If you want a tightly plotted whodunit, look elsewhere.
Can You Read Stephanie Plum Books Out of Order?
Yes. You could pick up this book with no earlier book behind you and still have a great time. Evanovich writes the series like a sitcom: the cast is easy to read, and the jokes need no backstory.
Still, starting with One for the Money (1994) pays off. The love triangle between Stephanie, Morelli and Ranger has been simmering for fifteen books by now. Knowing its history makes every loaded glance land harder.
Other Books in the Stephanie Plum Series
These are the books in this series around number fifteen, in reading order. For the full list, see our Stephanie Plum books in order guide.
- One for the Money (#1, 1994): where it all starts
- Four to Score (#4): our favorite of the early books
- Fearless Fourteen (#14): the book right before this one
- Plum Spooky: a holiday novella published just before #15
- Finger Lickin’ Fifteen (#15, 2009)
- Sizzling Sixteen (#16): the next installment
If you like this book, you may also enjoy our Wicked Appetite review, the first book in her Wicked series.
Who Is the Author of Finger Lickin’ Fifteen?
Janet Evanovich is the bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum series. She was born in 1943 in South River, New Jersey. She began with romance novels, then launched Stephanie Plum in 1994. The series made her a regular on The New York Times Best Seller list.
Evanovich’s other books include the Alexandra Barnaby novels, Metro Girl and Motor Mouth. She also writes the Lizzy and Diesel series and, with Lee Goldberg, the Fox and O’Hare books. She even took Barnaby into a graphic novel, Troublemaker.
Quick Facts
- Series: Stephanie Plum, book #15
- Author: Janet Evanovich
- Published: 2009, St. Martin’s Press
- Setting: Trenton, New Jersey
- Main characters: Stephanie Plum, Lula, Grandma Mazur, Ranger, Joe Morelli
- The hook: a $1 million reward for the capture of a celebrity chef’s killers
- Goodreads rating: 4.03/5 (96,803 ratings)
- Best for: fans of cozy mysteries that make you laugh out loud, with a familiar cast
- Content warnings: crude humor, a decapitation played for laughs, mild violence
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Finger Lickin’ Fifteen the first Stephanie Plum book?
No. It is book 15. The series starts with One for the Money (1994).
Which Stephanie Plum book is considered the best?
Most fans point to the early novels. Our pick is Four to Score, where Grandma and Sally Sweet turn every scene into chaos. Among the later books, this one is among the funniest.
Is Janet Evanovich still writing Stephanie Plum books?
Yes. She has not announced an end to the series, and a new book is on the way.
When is the 32nd Stephanie Plum book coming out?
The 32nd book, Split Second, is scheduled for November 2026.
Where can I buy the book?
It is widely available in paperback, as an ebook and as an audiobook from the major book retailers. Your local library is also likely to have it.
Where can I find more reviews?
Goodreads has tens of thousands of reader reviews. Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly reviewed it when it came out in 2009.
Is Finger Lickin’ Fifteen worth reading?
If you love this series and want light, funny escapism, yes. It’s a must read series for fans of comic crime. Pull up a chair and grab a napkin: things are about to get messy.