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6 Funny Mystery Series for Readers Who Wish Stephanie Plum Had a Passport
There’s a particular kind of mystery heroine I can never resist.
She’s smart, but things rarely go according to plan. She has a talent for getting into situations any reasonable person would avoid. There’s probably someone chasing her, something exploding nearby, and at least one person in her life questioning her decision-making skills.
And somehow, she’s still having fun.
If you love Stephanie Plum for the humor, the danger, the wonderfully chaotic supporting cast, and the fact that an ordinary day can turn into a car chase with remarkably little warning, these books belong on your TBR.
There’s just one difference.
We’re giving Stephanie a passport.
These funny mystery and adventure series send their heroines beyond the usual crime-solving territory—to casinos, tropical islands, foreign cities, secret missions, and places where the local sightseeing really should not include dodging assassins.
Pack a bag. Preferably one you can run with.
1. Poppy Fields Adventures by Julie Mulhern
Start with: Fields’ Guide to Abduction
Poppy Fields goes to Cabo for a luxury vacation. This proves optimistic.
Instead of lounging beside the pool, the Hollywood It Girl finds herself surrounded by dead bodies, running afoul of the Mexican police, and eventually becoming the unwilling guest of a drug cartel.
And that's only the first trip.
The Poppy Fields Adventures eventually send Poppy around the world, including Paris, London, Egypt, Grand Cayman, Greece, and Turkey. Along the way, her problems escalate from murder and kidnapping to assassins, dirty bombs, money laundering, smugglers, and international conspiracies.
Fortunately, Poppy has charm, brains, a sense of humor, and—at least in the beginning—a killer Chihuahua.
Try it if you love: Stephanie's ability to turn an ordinary outing into a life-threatening incident, but you'd like the incident to happen somewhere requiring a passport.
2. Lexi Carmichael Mysteries by Julie Moffett
Start with: No One Lives Twice
Lexi Carmichael is a brilliant computer geek who would probably be perfectly happy solving problems from behind a screen.
Naturally, life has other plans.
Hackers, government secrets, gunmen, intelligence operations, and international adventures pull Lexi out from behind her computer and into increasingly dangerous situations. Over the course of the series, she travels the world taking on cybercriminals while surrounded by spies, security experts, and people considerably more comfortable with bullets than she is.
Lexi isn't Stephanie Plum with a laptop. She's very much her own wonderfully geeky heroine. But the series hits that same sweet spot where a funny female protagonist can stumble into serious danger without the books themselves becoming grim.
Try it if you love: capable-but-unconventional heroines, romantic complications, international trouble, and mysteries where the danger is real but the ride is still fun.
3. Miss Fortune Mysteries by Jana DeLeon
Start with: Louisiana Longshot
Technically, Fortune Redding already has the passport.
She's a CIA assassin.
The problem is that she's currently supposed to be hiding in tiny Sinful, Louisiana, pretending to be a former beauty queen while keeping a very low profile.
You can probably guess how that goes.
Fortune teams up with Ida Belle and Gertie, two senior citizens whose enthusiasm for danger might actually exceed hers, and the result is one of the funniest combinations of murder, action, friendship, and wildly questionable plans in mystery fiction.
Most of the series stays closer to the Louisiana bayou than the other books on this list, but the spirit is exactly right—and when Fortune, Ida Belle, and Gertie finally take a Florida vacation in Fortune Furlough, naturally there's a murder waiting for them.
Try it if you love: Stephanie's recurring cast and escalating chaos, but think everything would be improved by adding a CIA assassin and two senior citizens who should absolutely not be encouraged.
4. Spycatcher Sisters by Brittany E. Brinegar
Start with: If I Spy Young
Traveling the world under an assumed name. Sneaking into places you definitely weren't invited. Chasing dangerously handsome double agents while getting paid to break the rules.
Being a spy sounds like a pretty fantastic career choice.
At least, that's what sisters Samantha and Lizzie think.
The twins have spent years training for the CIA, mastering everything from picking locks to disappearing into crowds. But when they stumble onto a conspiracy involving a shadow organization hiding in plain sight, their spy fantasies get a rather abrupt reality check. Suddenly, they're hunting a suspected double agent, dodging actual bullets, and discovering that the bad guys don't politely wait for the good guys to figure out the plot.
The best part? This is only the beginning.
The Spycatcher Sisters series takes Samantha and Lizzie from undercover operations in Mexico to dangerous assignments in Germany and Australia, complete with secret identities, international conspiracies, a colorful cast of fellow operatives, and missions that rarely go according to plan.
The stakes are serious. The sisters? Not nearly as much.
Try it if you love: Stephanie Plum's knack for getting into trouble, her hilarious supporting cast, and the irresistible idea of having a dangerous, ridiculously fun job. Just add two sisters, CIA credentials, and a passport full of stamps.
5. Davis Way Crime Capers by Gretchen Archer
Start with: Double Whammy
Davis Way lands what sounds like a dream job at a luxury casino in Biloxi, Mississippi.
It isn't.
Her new position at the Bellissimo Resort and Casino pulls her into security operations, undercover assignments, cons, criminals, and the particular kind of chaos that seems perfectly reasonable when you're inside a casino and completely bonkers when you try to explain it afterward.
The Davis Way books don't travel as far as some of the other series on this list, but they deliver something Stephanie Plum readers may appreciate even more: a heroine with an unusual job, an eccentric recurring cast, fast-moving crime plots, and the persistent possibility that absolutely everything is about to go sideways.
Try it if you love: unusual jobs, undercover antics, capers, casinos, and heroines whose professional lives routinely become ridiculous.
6. Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
Start with: Killers of a Certain Age
Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have spent forty years working as elite assassins.
Their employer rewards this loyalty with an all-expenses-paid retirement cruise.
And then tries to kill them.
Rude.
The four women quickly discover that retirement is going to require considerably more international travel, deception, investigation, and violence than advertised. Their attempt to stay alive sends them racing around the world while trying to figure out why their own organization has decided they need to disappear.
This one edges farther into thriller territory than some of the other books on this list, but it keeps the wit, friendship, female characters, and sheer fun that make heavier stakes work.
Try it if you love: dangerous women, international adventures, friendship, assassins, and the idea that getting older should make a heroine more formidable—not less.
Ready to Pack Your Bags?
Whether you want to chase criminals through Cabo, follow hackers around the world, hide a CIA assassin in Louisiana, infiltrate a casino, dodge assassins in Australia, or discover that your retirement cruise has taken a deeply unfortunate turn, there's a funny mystery adventure waiting for you.
The common thread isn't really the destination.
It's the heroine.
She's clever. She's imperfect. She's probably in over her head. And even when the stakes get serious, the story remembers that reading about trouble is supposed to be fun.
Stephanie, grab your passport.
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