Janet Evanovich (1943 – )

Evanovich began writing novels in her thirties, working for ten years on three manuscripts she was unable to sell. She then turned her attention to romance novels, and writing under the pseudonym Steffie Hall she sold her second romance manuscript for $2,000; Hero At Large was published in 1987.She wrote multiple other titles for Bantam under the ‘Second Chance at Love’ series, including Full House (1989). Evanovich and author Charlotte Hughes teamed up later to expand Full House into its own series.

Soon Evanovich began writing for Bantam Loveswept under her own name, and after publishing twelve romances she changed her focus to more adventure driven romance novels, written in first person, and she began her Stephanie Plum series featuring a former lingerie buyer turned bounty hunter. The first book in the series, One for the Money, was published in 1994, and the movie rights sold for $1million just prior to the books release. There are more than 2 dozen novels in the Stephanie Plum series, and Evanovich has started multiple other series as well, including Knight & Moon Series, Wicked Series, and the Fox and O'Hare Series.

Evanovich's novels regularly debut on the top of the New York Times bestseller list, and she has more than two hundred million books in print worldwide in 40 different languages.