Don't spill your coffee, but guess who's coming to town? Mega-best-selling romantic-adventure novelist Janet Evanovich.

Don't make any other plans for the evening of Nov. 29, when the author will appear at a special edition of the Sacramento Bee Book Club.

This will be Evanovich's only public appearance on the West Coast during her national book tour for "Notorious Nineteen," her new Stephanie Plum novel.

This is a free Bee Book Club event, but tickets are required. You get them, go to www.sacbee.com/evanovich.

Tickets are limited to two per person. Printed, hard-copy tickets are required for entry to the event.

Evanovich has been bonded to her main character, the wise-cracking Stephanie Plum, since introducing the New Jersey-based bounty hunter to her fans in "One For the Money" in 1994.

The new entry in the rollicking series, "Notorious Nineteen," will be in bookstores Nov. 20.

Evanovich cleverly populated her heroine's universe with a cast of memorably eccentric and ongoing characters, including Joe Morelli, a local cop and Plum's sometime lover; Ranger, a mysterious fellow bounty hunter and Plum's protector and mentor, a guy who, under the right circumstances, Plum could fall for; and the infamous Grandma Mazur, who carries a Glock and once shot a cooked chicken at the family dinner table.

Moviegoers finally met that cast earlier this year in the film version of "One for the Money," with Katherine Heigl as Plum.

In "Notorious Nineteen," Plum steps out of her skip-trace role to track a missing con man who has embezzled millions from an assisted-living facility. He's gone missing from the hospital where he's just had emergency surgery.

Hoping to find a lead, Plum enlists wacky Grandma Mazur to go undercover at the assisted-living facility.

When a second patient vanishes from the same hospital, Plum is joined in the hunt by "hot cop" Morelli.

Meanwhile, Plum's bank account is running on empty, forcing her to take a second job. This one's a labor of love – serving as a bodyguard for "mouthwatering mentor" Ranger.

There are other distractions, too, including food poisoning and a bridesmaid's dress trimmed with way too much taffeta.

Could all this be too much for our heroine?

Evanovich will appear for the Sacramento Bee Book Club at 6 p.m. Nov. 29 at the Scottish Rite Center, 6151 H St., Sacramento. Doors will open at 5 p.m.

She will give a presentation, answer questions and autograph books. Meanwhile, visit her at www.evanovich.com.

Barnes & Noble will be on site to sell pre-autographed copies of the title for 30 percent off the list price (Bantam, $28, 320 pages).

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