Smoking gun

I planned on cooking dinner every night and living the quiet life when we moved to North Carolina,” says Angie Harmon.

The former star of “Law & Order” had just convinced her husband, ex New York Giants star Jason Sehorn, to ditch Tinseltown and head back East with their three daughters.

But before she’d unpacked the boxes, a FedEx package arrived.

“They drop the script for ‘Rizzoli & Isles’ on my doorstep,” says Harmon.

The story — about a Boston homicide detective, Jane Rizzoli, who is awkwardly teamed up with a medical examiner, Dr. Maura Isles — was already a series of best-selling mystery books.

After talking it over with “The Horn” — one of the more printable nicknames she has for her husband — Harmon, 38, jumped back on a plane to LA.

The show on TNT is the reigning, No. 1 cable drama of all-time.

“Our reaction was pretty much ‘huh?’. . . the support blew us away,” says Harmon.

Last summer, the cop show pulled in nearly 9 million viewers an episode in its first season.

“Now, there’s added pressure to perform,” she told The Post on the eve of the show’s second year.

The cast is still shooting new episodes, logging 90-hour workweeks, and Harmon’s starting to fall apart.

Not from the bruises and busted toes picked up doing stunts and fights, but a bad case of Mommy Guilt.

“I’ve never spent more than four days away from my kids,” says Harmon. “I’ve been gone now for almost three months. It makes me very sad.

“I see Kyra Sedgwick all the time out here, and she tells me to just stay focused on work and before I know it I will be back home with them.”

It’s easy for Harmon to figure out Rizzoli. Both are adrenaline junkies who love play rough and identify with the underdog.

It is also very close to her breakout role as A.D.A. Abbie Carmichael on “Law & Order.”

“They both seek justice,” says Harmon, who admits she can’t believe NBC pulled the plug last fall on the mothership.

Memories of her four seasons there still bring on a smile.

“I remember sending out wedding invitations back in 2001 from our New York office when we took a break from filming,” says Harmon.

“I certainly do not believe the show had run its course. Naturally, I was upset by the news. They should have cancelled one of those ridiculous reality shows instead of ‘Law & Order.’ ”

She’d have still been there when the venerable drama was axed had it not been for her other dream — to create memorable roles on the silver screen.

A couple of straight-to-DVD movies are all she has at the moment to show for a frustrated big-screen career — and it still hurts.

“When the Titanic floats across the screen, Kate Winslet can say to her kids, ‘look, that’s mommy on the boat,’ ” says Harmon

“I don’t have anything like that to say.

“And I absolutely love acting . . . Meryl Streep doesn’t love acting as much as me,” she says with a barking laugh. “Although she’s much, much better at it that me.”

For now, at any rate, the movies will have to wait.

“I can’t go off to Prague for six months with Eric Bana and do a film,” says Harmon. “God knows I would love to but I can’t do that to my kids.

“I also have a sneaky suspicion that wouldn’t work well for ‘The Horn.’ ”

Until then, Harmon can take solace in the fact her character is influencing a younger female TV audience to pursue careers in law enforcement. In a previous trip to Boston, she was approached by a slew of female high-school students, who expressed their admiration for Jane Rizzoli.

“These young girls told me they’re going to study to become detectives and work in forensics like Rizzoli,” she says. “It made me appreciate the role even more.”

It’s safe to say Harmon won’t be branching off into that realm anytime soon.

“I saw a guy eating worms a few years ago and was like ‘this is not for me and certainly not for my kids,’” the actress says. “I’m not a fan of seeing people fail or be miserable.”

RIZZOLI & ISLES

Monday, 10 p.m., TNT

jbarracato@nypost.com