Sure, I could’ve been reading “War and Peace,” but instead I chose to read all 18 books in Janet Evanovich’s literature-lite mystery series. They feature variations on the same plot, minor crimes in Trenton, N.J., that get solved by female bounty hunter Stephanie Plum.

I admit I enjoy them.

Stephanie is surrounded by a wonky supporting cast of characters: Cop boyfriend Joe Morelli, a mysterious love interest known as Ranger, a seam-busting ex-hooker turned bounty hunter named Lula, gun-toting Grandma Mazur, Stephanie’s anxious mother and checked-out father, among others.

Janovich got the idea of having a central character that the rest of the cast revolve around from watching the “Sienfeld” sitcom. Making her heroine a bounty hunter came from watching the Robert De Niro movie “Midnight Run.”

You see, Janet Evonovich is a former romance novelist (back then she penned her bodice-rippers under the nom de plum of Steffie Hall). She knew how to write commercial potboilers. But she preferred writing action sequences rather than sex scenes.

Evanovich took a cool million for the movie rights to “One for the Money.” If audiences like it, this action comedy could become a franchise for star Katherine Heigl (“27 Dresses,” “New Year’s Eve”). After all, there are 18 Stephanie Plum books and counting.

Wearing a brunette wig for the role, Heigl draws on her experience in “Killers” with Ashton Kutcher. You know, a bang-bang boom-boom movie.

Good training for this one.

The movie’s Stephanie Plum (just like the book version) is a likeable but inept recovery agent (read: bounty hunter) who works for her cousin Vinnie. In this first outing, she’s chasing down a former vice cop wanted for murder. Turns out, it’s her old high-school flame Joe, the lusty Italian who humped and dumped her back when.

Along the way, she gets some manhunting tips from the Latin Lothario who goes by the name of Ranger. Two romantic interests – what’s a girl to do?

Despite Stephanie’s meddling family, dying witnesses, Lula’s well-intended help, and blown-up cars, she manages to get her man ... uh, men.

“Stephanie Plum is a woman who moves through the drama of her life with all the grace of an 'I Love Lucy’ episode,” says Evanovich. “She destroys every car she owns. Her hair frizzes up in Jersey humidity. She can’t cook. She’s not going to stop a speeding train like Superman or catch a bullet in her teeth. But she’s the woman we all want to be.”

Janet Evanovich patterned her heroine after herself and people she knows. Evanovich is from New Jersey, loves Cheetos, and had a pet hamster.

And Grandma Mazur (played by Debbie Reynolds in the movie) is based on her own Grandma Fanny and Aunt Lena.

Now a best-selling author, Evanovich is amazed that it took seventeen years for Hollywood to bring her books to the screen. “It’s amazing. I absolutely love the movie,” she says.

“One For the Money” is directed by Julie Anne Robinson, a Brit with a background at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court, and the National Theatre. She might seem like an unlikely choice to do a movie about a working-class New Jersey girl who chases down bail skippers. But her credentials make me feel better about watching this guilty pleasure rather than some big-budget production of, say, “War and Peace.”

My top 10 female detective movies

“One for the Money” made me start thinking about my favorite female detectives in movies.

Don’t look for Honey West (Anne Francis) or Pepper Anderson (Angie Dickinson) or Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren) on this list. They were television detectives.

Same goes for Precious Ramotswe ( Jill Scott) in “Number One Lady’s Detective Agency,” a terrific television mini-series about a unique female detective in Botswana.

So here are my Top Ten:

10. Nancy Drew in “Nancy Drew, Detective” (1938) – The title says it all, a girl detective based on the Carolyn Keene book series. This was one of four classic films starring Bonita Granville.

9. Hildegarde Withers in a series of classic mysteries -- This school teacher and amateur investigator was played by Edna May Oliver in the films Penguin Pool Murder (1932), Murder on the Blackboard (1934), and Murder on a Honeymoon (1935); by Helen Broderick in Murder on a Bridle Path (1936); by ZaSu Pitts in The Plot Thickens (1936) and Forty Naughty Girls (1937); and by Eve Arden in A Very Missing Person (1972).

8. Victoria Iphigenia Warshawski in “V.I. Warshawski” (1991) – Based on the crime novels of Sara Paretsky, this tough-as-nails Chicago private eye was brought to the screen by Kathleen Turner.

7. Nikki Collins in “Lady on a Train” (1945) – Grown-up child star Deanna Durbin plays a detective story fan who spots a murder while riding on a train.

6. Laura Croft in the two “Tomb Raider” films (2001 and 2003) – Based on a popular video game, Laura’s more an adventuress, but she does solve archeological crimes in the process. Angelina Jolie makes her hot.

5. Miss Marple in “Murder, She Said” (1961) – This Agatha Christie heroine is much more than a dotty old lady. And Margaret Rutherfords was the perfect embodiment. Note: Disney plans to make a new movie based on this female sleuth.

4. Marge Gunderson in “Fargo” (1996) – Frances McDormand plays a small-town chief of police who faces a series of homicides in this Coen brothers film.

3. Clarice Starling in “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991) – An FBI agent played by Jodie Foster takes on serial killer Hannibal Lector in this Oscar-winner based on the Thomas Harris novel.

2. Nora Charles in “The Thin Man” series (1934, 1936, 1939, 1941, 1945, and 1947) – Nora’s a Nob Hill heiress married to Nick, a retired Pinkerton detective. The six movies are noted for their witty banter between husband and wife.

1. Lisbeth Salander in “Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” (2010, 2011) – This socially inept tattooed punker can find out anything about anybody via her hacking skills. Take your pick, the original Niels Arden Oplev film or David Fincher’s equally good Hollywood remake. Noomi Rapace and Roomey Mara both nail the role of Lisbeth.

Shirrel Rhoades is the film critic for Cooke Communications.