Janet Evanovich
Janet Evanovich is a renowned American author best known for her engaging mystery novels featuring the character Stephanie Plum, a quirky bounty hunter from New Jersey. Initially studying art at Douglass College, Evanovich found her passion in writing after publishing her first romance novel, *Hero at Large*, in 1987 under the pseudonym Steffie Hall. Her breakthrough came in 1994 with *One for the Money*, which introduced readers to the Plum series. The series has garnered a loyal following, and several of its titles have topped the New York Times Best Seller list. Beyond the Plum novels, Evanovich has also created other series, including the urban fantasy *Wicked* series and the *Fox and O'Hare* series, which she co-writes with Lee Goldberg.
Evanovich's work has received various accolades, including the Crime Writers Association's Last Laugh Award and the Dilys Award from the Independent Booksellers Association. As of 2024, she had sold over 200 books and accumulated a net worth estimated at $140 million, reflecting her significant impact on the literary world. She resides in New Jersey with her family, including her daughter, Alex Evanovich, who is also an author.
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Janet Evanovich
Fiction Writer
- Born: April 22, 1943
- Place of Birth: Saddle River, New Jersey
Biography
Although she is now a popular author, Janet Evanovich started out studying art at Douglass College. But art did not suit her. As she put it, “It was frustrating at best, excruciating at worst. My audience was too small. Communication was too obscure. I developed a rash from pigment.” She began writing short stories and submitting them to various magazines. While working at a temp agency as a secretary, one of her romance stories sold for two thousand dollars. With that money, she quit her job and started writing romance novels. Her first, Hero at Large, was published in 1987 under her pseudonym, Steffie Hall. Over the next six years, she wrote and published eleven romance novels under her own name and her pseudonym.
In 1994, her first mystery novel, One for the Money, was published by Charles Scribner’s Sons. That book introduced Evanovich’s protagonist—Stephanie Plum, a brazen bounty hunter for her cousin, a bail bondsman. Plum, who—like Evanovich—made her home in New Jersey, has been called “intelligent, cheery and genuine,” by one critic. The Plum novels have received mixed reviews. “Stephanie’s voice, breezy and undauntable, is all her own,” said one reviewer, while a critic for Armchair Detective stated, “Plum’s. . . voice becomes irritating, largely due to its consistently unsophisticated speech.”
The fifth novel in the Plum Series, High Five, was a bestseller. As a reviewer for Publishers Weekly put it, “Evanovich just keeps getting better.” The sixth, Hot Six, was the first to reach number one on the New York Times Best Seller list, and nearly all subsequent Plum novels had debuted at number one. In 2022, Going Rogue: Rise and Shine Twenty Nine was released, and in 2023, Dirty Thirty was released as the thirtieth book in the series, and in 2024, Now or Never was released as the thirty-first.
Evanovich is also the author of the urban fantasy Wicked series (beginning with 2010's Wicked Appetite) and the Fox and O'Hare series (beginning with 2013's The Heist). The latter is cowritten with Lee Goldberg. In 2015, she added a third book to this series written in collaboration with Phoef Sutton, Wicked Charms.
Other series include the Knight and Moon series, the Barnaby and Hooker series, and Fox & O'Hare series, The Recovery Agent series, among others. Evanovich won the Crime Writers Association’s Last Laugh Award as well as Left Coast Crime’s Lefty Award for her humorous mysteries. She also won the Dilys Award, given by the Independent Booksellers Association. She settled in New Jersey with her husband and two children. According to Forbes, in 2024, Evanovich had sold two-hundred books and was worth an estimated $140 million. Her daughter, Alex Evanovich, published Keeper Chance and the Conundrum of Chaos for middle-schoolers in 2024.
Bibliography
"About Janet Evanovich." Janet Evanovich, evanovich.com/about. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
Cochran, Amanda. "Janet Evanovich Talks 'The Heist,' Teaming Up with TV Writer Lee Goldberg." CBS News, 17 June 2013. www.cbsnews.com/news/janet-evanovich-talks-the-heist-teaming-up-with-tv-writer-lee-goldberg. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
Emanuele, M. "Evanovich: Not Literary, But Famous." Sun News Austin, 22 Dec. 2022, sunnewsaustin.com/2022/12/22/evanovich-not-literary-but-famous/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
Evanovich, Janet. "5 Questions with Janet Evanovich: Author Is Excited about Prospects for Her Jersey Girl Bounty Hunter." Interview by Susan Pierce. Times Free Press, Chattanooga Pub., 29 June 2014. Web. 22 June 2016.
Evanovich, Janet. "Janet Evanovich’s Unexpected Path to Crime Novels." Interview by Marc Myers. Wall Street Journal, 23 June 2015, www.wsj.com/articles/janet-evanovichs-happy-path-to-crime-novels-1435005875. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.