Saturday, June 2, 2012

May We Suggest...Janet Evanovich

Janet Evanovich is a second-generation American. She was born and raised in South River, New Jersey to a machinist and housewife.  Evanovich attended South River High School. She became the first in her family to attend college. When Evanovich had children, she chose to become a housewife like her mother. In her thirties, she began writing novels. For ten years, she attempted to write, finishing three manuscripts 
that she was unable to sell. It was suggested that she try writing romance novels. She wrote two romances and submitted them for publishing. Finally, she received an offer to buy her second romance manuscript for $2,000, which she considered an "astounding sum."

That novel, Hero at Large, was published in 1987 in the Second Chance Love category line under the pseudonym Steffie Hall. The following year she began writing for Bantam Loveswept and for the next five years, she continued to write category romances for L
oveswept. Evanovich also became known for the humor that filled her novels. She believes that "it's very important to take a comic approach. If we can laugh at something, we can face it."

After finishing her twelfth romance, however, Evanovich realized that she was more interested in writing the action sequences in her novels. Evanovich took the next eighteen months to formulate a plan for what she actually wanted to write. She quickly decided that she wanted to write romantic adventure novels. Her new type of writing should contain heroes and heroines, as well as "a sense of family and community." Evanovich decided that her heroine would be a bounty hunter. This occupation provided more freedom for Evanovich as a writer, and the profession is also "romanticised to some extent."

In 1994, her initial romantic adventure, One for the Money, was published to good reviews. This was the first of a light-hearted series of mysteries starring barely competent bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. One for the Money was named a New York Times notable book, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 1994 and a USAToday Best Bet.

Evanovich continued to write romantic adventures starring Stephanie Plum. The sixth book in the series, Hot Six, was the first of her novels to reach Number 1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. Her subsequent Plum novels have each debuted at Number 1. The Plum novels have taken many attributes from Evanovich's own life. Evanovich shares many commonalities with her character Stephanie Plum. Both are from New Jersey, both devour Cheetos, both had owned a hamster, and both have shared "similar embarrassing experiences." The character Grandma Mazur is loosely based on Evanovich's "Grandma Fanny" and "Aunt Lena." Evanovich claims the spirited elderly lady is "who I want to be when I grow up."

Shortly before One for the Money was released, Evanovich sold the movie rights to Columbia Tristar for $1 million.. Lions Gate Entertainment released One for the Money on January 27, 2012.

Evanovich lives in New Hampshire and Florida with her husband, Pete, whom she married in 1964. Pete is of Serbian ancestry. Members of Evanovich's family are employed by her company, Evanovich Inc, including her husband, Pete, son Peter, daughter Alexandra and son-in-law P.J. Heller.



READ-A-LIKES

LISA LUTZ - Fans who appreciate the wacky characters and the close family ties in Evanovich’s Plum novels should certainly try Lisa Lutz’s series starring the dysfunctional Spellman family, all private investigators. Lutz’s focus is also more on the antics of her quirky characters than the actual mystery in this laugh-out-loud series starring Isabel, who desperately wants to escape her family and live a normal life. Start with The Spellman Files, which introduces the family — from Izzy’s perspective at least.

HARLEY JANE KOZAK - The Wollie Shelley Chick Lit Mysteries may not be as outrageous as Evanovich’s in characterizations or mayhem, but they share similarly smart, sassy, sexy heroines who somehow find themselves in dangerous situations with dead bodies to explain. The six-foot tall Wollie (as in Mary Wollstonecraft) designs greeting cards, and if she could just make a living at that, her life would be perfect. Instead, she makes ends meet as a serial dater and later a dating expert while clearing herself and friends of murder charges.Dating Dead Men is the first in this screwball comedy series, and it introduces a cast that should satisfy fans of Evanovich’s Mystery and Romantic Suspense novels.

NANCY MARTIN - Martin also writes mysteries with sassy heroines. In her current series, Roxy Abruzzo, an architectural salvage expert in Pittsburgh, runs with a group that will remind readers of Stephanie Plum’s eccentric crew. Start with her second mystery, Sticky Fingers, in which she does a little debt collection on the side for her jailed mob boss uncle and refuses a hit job on a former high school classmate — but finds herself accused of the murder anyway. Solving the mystery requires a lot of help from her amusing friends and relatives. Smart dialog, a single mother who wishes she were a better role model for her teenage daughter, and a crew of eccentric sidekicks make this series a good match for Evanovich’s Mysteries.