Joyce Barnhardt

Joyce is Stephanie's arch rival. She has picked on Stephanie ever since grade school, and still is an object of contempt after Stephanie caught her cheating with Dickie Orr, Stephanie's then-husband. Joyce also occasionally sleeps with Vinnie, who likes to spank her and make her bark like a dog. In turn Vinnie gives her a few cases to capture. Despite their mutual dislike, on several occasions, Joyce actually helps Stephanie out of bad situations, with the reason she would rather humiliate Stephanie than let a bad guy get her. In Finger Lickin' Fifteen, Joyce aggressively goes after Morelli (as he is then off with Stephanie) despite his desperate maneuvers to avoid her and he considers shooting her "just to get it over with." Joyce actually is shot in the chest toward the end of the novel, but survives.