Lizzy and Diesel

About the Lizzy and Diesel series

Lizzy Tucker is a pastry chef in Salem, Massachusetts who discovers she's a hereditary "Unmentionable" -- part of a bloodline tasked with keeping four supernatural stones out of the wrong hands -- and Diesel is the immortal, catlike-eyed bounty hunter for the universe's good guys who shows up on her doorstep to recruit her. Wicked Appetite launches a lighter, more overtly paranormal spin on Evanovich's usual formula: instead of skips and bail bonds, Lizzy and Diesel chase down cursed relics and squabble with Diesel's demonic cousin Wulf, all filtered through the same breezy, bantering comedy and slow-burn romantic tension that powers Stephanie Plum. Salem's real-world witch-tourism kitsch gives the series a distinct, slightly campy backdrop that the Plum books, grounded in blue-collar Trenton, don't have.

Published as a trilogy between 2010 and 2015, the series introduces recurring comic-relief characters (Lizzy's stoner cousin Hatchet included) and keeps the stakes low and the tone comic even as the supernatural elements escalate. Phoef Sutton joined as co-writer for the third book, Wicked Charms, after Evanovich wrote the first two solo. No further entry has followed since 2015, though nothing has been announced ruling one out either. It's a good fit for readers who enjoy Plum's voice but want a paranormal twist rather than crime procedural.

How to read this series

Read in publication order: Wicked Appetite, Wicked Business, Wicked Charms. Each book sends Lizzy and Diesel after a different cursed stone tied to the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and while the central mystery mostly resets book to book, the running gags, the Lizzy/Diesel slow burn, and the supporting Salem cast build cumulatively across all three, so starting at the beginning is the easiest way in. No new entry has appeared since Wicked Charms in 2015, so there's nothing currently to catch up on, though the series hasn't been formally ended either.