Dirty Thirty

The thirtieth installment in the Stephanie Plum series follows Stephanie Plum, a bond enforcement agent (bounty hunter) working for Vincent Plum Bail Bonds in Trenton, New Jersey, as she pursues two intertwined cases that expose a respected jeweler's criminal double life.

The story opens with Stephanie and her coworker Lula responding to a scene where Duncan Dugan, a button factory quality control inspector with no criminal record, stands on a building ledge. Dugan had robbed Plover's Jewelry at gunpoint with a fake gun, led police on a high-speed chase, and then failed to appear for his court date. His friend Sissy tries to talk him down, but Dugan slips and crashes through a café awning, surviving with serious injuries.

That evening, Martin Plover, the jewelry store's owner, hires Stephanie to find his former security guard, Andy "Nutsy" Manley, a former classmate of Stephanie's known for accepting any dare. Plover explains that on the same day Dugan robbed the display cases, a tray of diamonds worth nearly a million dollars vanished from the store safe, and he believes Nutsy stole them. The bag of jewelry Dugan took was also never recovered; Dugan claimed he dropped it on the sidewalk during his escape.

Stephanie's boyfriend, Joe Morelli, a Trenton plainclothes detective, leaves his large, unruly dog Bob in Stephanie's care while he flies to Miami for a trial. He warns that both the police and Ranger, a former Special Forces operative whose real name is Carlos Manoso, have been unable to locate Nutsy. Ranger owns the high-end security firm Rangeman and serves as Stephanie's other romantic interest. Using hospital security footage, he discovers that two figures in surgical scrubs removed Dugan from the hospital in a white panel van.

Stephanie's research reveals Nutsy's unusual biography: army service, clown school, and an eventual return to Trenton to live with his parents. A visit to his mother, Celia Manley, who fosters shelter cats, yields Nutsy's phone number but little else. Meanwhile, Dugan's immaculate row house contains no electronics, and a deli worker mentions Dugan regularly comes in with a woman called Sissy.

A USB flash drive from Nutsy's bedroom contains stories written under the pseudonym "Emmett," a reference to the clown Emmett Kelly. The stories feature "Dwayne Dreary," a button factory worker who transforms into a jewel thief called "Duncan Dare," making the connection to Duncan Dugan unmistakable. That same night, someone detonates an improvised explosive device (IED) under the Manleys' car, suggesting someone is pressuring Nutsy.

Stephanie takes on additional fugitive cases to pay her bills, including a violent criminal named Farcus Trundle whose capture costs Stephanie her Cherokee. She also contends with Lula's escalating claims that a creature she calls "Grendel," after a demon-ogre from a video game, stalks her apartment at night. A stakeout at the Manley house on meat loaf night confirms Nutsy is still in the area, but he escapes on his motorcycle after Stephanie's mother gives chase.

Following a tip from Sissy, Stephanie, Lula, and Bob drive to Alberton, Maine, where Dugan's brother William lives. Stephanie finds Nutsy and Duncan at William's home. Duncan is sedated but lucid, confessing he had an epiphany after nearly dying and regrets the robbery. Nutsy admits the heist was indirectly his fault: The stories he wrote about Duncan Dare inspired the real Duncan to attempt it. He insists Duncan cannot safely return to Trenton but asks Stephanie for a ride back to continue searching for someone he will not identify.

Back in Trenton, Stephanie discovers Lula's apartment has been destroyed by arson. Lula and Nutsy move into Stephanie's apartment. Nutsy finally tells Stephanie the full story. After Plover fired him, Nutsy returned to the store to ask for his job back. Through the back door, he witnessed two men, Marcus and Stump, confronting Plover with the stolen jewelry bag and attempting to blackmail him after discovering the pieces were fake. Plover shot Stump dead; Marcus fled, shoving the bag at Nutsy before disappearing. Plover spotted Nutsy and fired, grazing his arm. Nutsy has been hiding ever since, searching for Marcus as a corroborating witness. He avoided the police because there is no body and his reputation would undermine his credibility. He also reveals that Plover tracked him to Dugan's house and threatened Dugan, prompting the extraction to Maine.

Ranger confirms that all the jewelry from the stolen bag is counterfeit, meaning Plover has been selling fake gems at real prices. He devises a plan: Nutsy, wearing a wireless listening device, confronts Plover and demands a hundred thousand dollars for the return of the fake jewelry. Plover agrees. Stephanie enlists Simon Diggery, a semi-retired professional grave robber, to search for Stump's body, and she and Ranger track down Marcus, who corroborates Nutsy's account and provides details about metal items Stump carried.

Ranger's investigation uncovers that Plover's son, Frankie Plover, who has a drug addiction, works for Ray Geara, a mob-connected car wash magnate secretly partnered with Plover in the jewelry store. Frankie storms into the bail bonds office with a gun, admitting he executed the bombings, including the mistaken firebombing of Lula's apartment when targeting Stephanie. During the confrontation, a massive, bearded man enters with garbage bags, and Lula shrieks that it is Grendel. Lula's wild shot hits Frankie in the arm, and he flees. The intruder turns out to be Gordon Ruff, Lula's next-door neighbor, who had been cutting through her apartment due to a broken door lock; he rescued her clothes from the fire.

Stephanie begins staying at Ranger's private apartment at Rangeman. At a funeral viewing, she spreads rumors about Plover's fake jewelry through the Burg, her tight-knit South Trenton neighborhood. Plover corners her and threatens to kill her. Late one night, Ranger tells Stephanie she deserves better than waiting for Morelli to propose. When she asks who would marry her, Ranger says he will and suggests Vegas on Saturday. Stephanie counters with Wednesday; Ranger agrees, contingent on resolving the Plover case first.

The case reaches its climax when Nutsy is lured to a building on Shirley Street, accepting what he believes is a clown gig. Martin, Frankie, and an associate named Daryl have beaten Nutsy and prepared steel barrels to dispose of him, Stephanie, and Lula at sea. When Martin fires at Lula, hitting only her purse, Bob attacks him and disarms him. Stephanie deploys a flash-bang grenade and incapacitates the three attackers with her stun gun.

Diggery finds a body matching Stump's description buried in Plover's backyard. Morelli, just returning from Miami, meets Stephanie at the Plover house, where she hands over the full case: three suspects in custody, the fake jewelry, Marcus in Ranger's custody as a witness, Nutsy's testimony, and Stump's body. The Plovers and Daryl are arrested.

Several storylines converge. Nutsy receives a publishing offer for his stories, and Duncan returns to Trenton with Sissy to face the courts. Lula befriends Gordon and begins dating Julio, the handyman renovating her apartment. Morelli returns home, reunites with Bob, and tells Stephanie he cannot live without her. He announces he gave away his pool table to make room for a dining table and proposes marriage. The novel ends with Stephanie facing two simultaneous proposals, one from Ranger and one from Morelli, without resolving which she will accept.