Janet Evanovich Books in Order – If you read various types of literature and are interested in adding some Romance, Suspense, and mystery to your library, Janet Evanovich’s books in order will be a good addition to your library.
Who is Janet Evanovich?
Janet Evanovich is an American writer. She began her career writing short contemporary romance novels under the pen name Steffie Hall but gained fame authoring a series of contemporary mysteries featuring Stephanie Plum, a former lingerie buyer from Trenton, New Jersey, who becomes a bounty hunter to make ends meet after losing her job.
The novels in this series have been on The New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon bestseller lists. Evanovich has had her last seventeen Plums debut at #1 on the NY Times bestsellers list and eleven of them have hit #1 on the USA Today bestselling books list.
She has over two hundred million books in print worldwide, and her books have been translated into over 40 languages.
Biography of Janet Evanovich
Janet Evanovich was born on April 22, 1943, in South River, New Jersey, to a machinist and a housewife. After attending South River High School, she became the first in her family to attend college when she enrolled at Douglass College, part of Rutgers University, to study art.
During the week, Evanovich works eight or more hours per day. On weekends she generally works for an additional four hours each day. She generally creates a brief outline before beginning a new book, with one or two sentences about what will happen in each chapter.
Upon the release of a new book, Evanovich regularly goes on book tours. Her book signings attracted thousands of people. Beginning with her third Stephanie Plum book, Three to Get Deadly, and ending with Smoking’ Seventeen, all of the titles have been chosen from fan submissions.
Evanovich lives in Hawaii & North Carolina with her husband, Pete, whom she married in 1964. Her husband, son, and daughter all work for her company, Evanovich Inc. Evanovich’s niece by marriage is author Stephanie Evanovich.
When Evanovich had children, she chose to become a housewife like her mother. In her thirties, she began writing novels. To learn the art of writing dialogue, Evanovich took lessons in improv acting. For ten years, she attempted to write the great American novel, finishing three manuscripts that she was unable to sell.
After someone suggested she try writing romance novels, Evanovich read several romances and discovered that she enjoyed the genre. She wrote two romances and submitted them for publishing. Still unable to find a publisher, Evanovich stopped writing and signed with a temporary employment agency.
Several months after beginning work for them, she received an offer to buy her second romance manuscript for $2,000, which she considered an “astounding sum.”
Janet Evanovich Books in Order
Let’s have a look at the top books and series by Janet Evanovich.
Publication Order of Stephanie Plum Books
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| One for the Money | (1994) | Buy Now |
| Two for the Dough | (1996) | Buy Now |
| Three to Get Deadly | (1997) | Buy Now |
| Four to Score | (1998) | Buy Now |
| High Five | (1999) | Buy Now |
| Hot Six | (2000) | Buy Now |
| Seven-Up | (2001) | Buy Now |
| Hard Eight | (2002) | Buy Now |
| To the Nines | (2003) | Buy Now |
| Ten Big Ones | (2004) | Buy Now |
| Eleven on Top | (2005) | Buy Now |
| Twelve Sharp | (2006) | Buy Now |
| Lean Mean Thirteen | (2007) | Buy Now |
| Fearless Fourteen | (2008) | Buy Now |
| Finger-Lickin’ Fifteen | (2009) | Buy Now |
| Sizzling Sixteen | (2009) | Buy Now |
| Smokin’ Seventeen | (2011) | Buy Now |
| Explosive Eighteen | (2011) | Buy Now |
| Notorious Nineteen | (2012) | Buy Now |
| Takedown Twenty | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Top Secret Twenty-One | (2014) | Buy Now |
| Tricky Twenty-Two | (2015) | Buy Now |
| Turbo Twenty-Three | (2016) | Buy Now |
| Hardcore Twenty-Four | (2017) | Buy Now |
| Look Alive Twenty-Five | (2018) | Buy Now |
| Twisted Twenty-Six | (2019) | Buy Now |
| Fortune and Glory | (2020) | Buy Now |
| Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight | (2021) | Buy Now |
| Going Rogue: Rise | (2022) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Stephanie Plum Between the Numbers/Holiday Novels Books
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Visions of Sugar Plums | (2002) | Buy Now |
| Plum Lovin’ | (2007) | Buy Now |
| Plum Lucky | (2008) | Buy Now |
| Plum Spooky | (2009) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Elsie Hawkins Books
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Back to the Bedroom | (1989) | Buy Now |
| Smitten | (1990) | Buy Now |
| Wife for Hire | (1990) | Buy Now |
| The Rocky Road to Romance | (1991) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Full/Max Holt Books with Charlotte Hughes
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Full House | (1981) | Buy Now |
| Full Tilt | (2002) | Buy Now |
| Full Speed | (2003) | Buy Now |
| Full Blast | (2004) | Buy Now |
| Full Bloom | (2005) | Buy Now |
| Full Scoop | (2006) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Alexandra Barnaby Books
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Metro Girl | (2004) | Buy Now |
| Motor Mouth | (2006) | Buy Now |
| Troublemaker | (2007) | Buy Now |
| Troublemaker 2 | (2010) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Hot/Cate Madigan Books
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Hot Stuff | (2007) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Lizzy & Diesel Books with Phoef Sutton
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Wicked Appetite | (2009) | Buy Now |
| Wicked Business | (2012) | Buy Now |
| Wicked Charms (With Phoef Sutton) | (2015) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Culhane Family Books
Publication Order of Kate O’Hare & Nicolas Fox Books
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Pros and Cons (With Lee Goldberg) | (2013) | Buy Now |
| The Heist (With Lee Goldberg) | (2013) | Buy Now |
| The Chase (With Lee Goldberg) | (2014) | Buy Now |
| The Shell Game (With Lee Goldberg) | (2014) | Buy Now |
| The Job (With Lee Goldberg) | (2014) | Buy Now |
| The Scam (With Lee Goldberg) | (2015) | Buy Now |
| The Pursuit (With Lee Goldberg) | (2016) | Buy Now |
| The Big Kahuna (With Peter Evanovich) | (2019) | Buy Now |
| The Bounty (With Steve Hamilton) | (2021) | Buy Now |
The shell game is a prequel short story to the Kate O’Hare & Nicolas Fox series.
Publication Order of Knight and Moon Books with Phoef Sutton
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Curious Minds (With Phoef Sutton) | (2016) | Buy Now |
| Dangerous Minds | (2017) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Hero at Large | (1987) | Buy Now |
| Thanksgiving | (1988) | Buy Now |
| The Grand Finale | (1988) | Buy Now |
| Manhunt | (1988) | Buy Now |
| Foul Play | (1989) | Buy Now |
| Love Overboard / Ivan Takes A Wife | (1989) | Buy Now |
| Naughty Neighbor | (1992) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author | (2006) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Gabriella Rose Books
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| The Recovery Agent | (2021) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Fearless Jones Books
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| The Plot Thickens | (1997) | Buy Now |
| Fearless Jones (By Walter Mosley) | (2001) | Buy Now |
| Fear Itself (By Walter Mosley) | (2003) | Buy Now |
| Fear of the Dark (By Walter Mosley) | (2006) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Anthologies
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| The Plot Thickens | (1997) | Buy Now |
Awards of Janet Evanovich
Evanovich was selected for the inaugural 2021 Forbes 50 Over 50; made up of entrepreneurs, leaders, scientists, and creators who are over the age of 50.
Janet Evanovich Trivia
- Birthday: April 22
- From: South River, NJ
- The first novel to make #1 on the New York Times list: Hot Six
- First novel published: Hero at Large
- Pets: Havanese named Ollie
- Favorite food: Birthday cake
- Favorite Tastykake: Butterscotch Krimpets
- Black or green olives on peanut butter and olive sandwiches: Green, preferably sliced
- Hobbies: None. Always writing
Janet Evanovich Few Top Series Summary
Romance Novels
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 under her name. For the next five years, she continued to write category romances for Loveswept.
Her work within the romance novel genre helped her learn to create likable characters and attractive leading men.
During this time, 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 than the sex scenes. Her editors were not interested in her change of heart, so Evanovich took the next eighteen months to formulate a plan for what she wanted to write.
Stephanie Plum series
She quickly decided that she wanted to write romantic adventure novels. She wanted to include humor, romance, and adventure in her work, and this fits into her style of a mystery novel. Unlike the style of romance novels, her books would be told in first-person narrative.
Her new type of writing should contain heroes and heroines, as well as “a sense of family and community.” In that vein, she intended her new style of writing to be based on the TV sitcom model. Like Seinfeld, her new books would have a central character that the rest of the cast of characters revolve around.
Inspired by the Robert De Niro movie Midnight Run, Evanovich decided that her heroine would be a bounty hunter. This occupation provided more freedom for Evanovich as a writer, as bounty hunters do not have a set work schedule and are not forced to wear a uniform.
The profession is also “romanticized to some extent.” To become acquainted with the demands of the career, Evanovich spent a great deal of time shadowing bond enforcement agents. She also researched more about the city of Trenton, where she wanted her books to be set.
In 1994, her initial romantic adventure, one for the Money, was published with 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 USA Today Best Bet.
Evanovich has 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 one on the New York Times Best Seller List.
Her subsequent Plum novels have each debuted at number one. All about romance has described her as the “rare breed of a romance author who has left the genre and yet not alienated her many romance fans.”
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 devoured 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.
The film stars Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum, Sherri Shepherd from The View as Lula, Debbie Reynolds as Grandma Mazur, Jason O’Mara as Joe Morelli, and Daniel Sunjata as Ranger. It was directed by Julie Anne Robinson.
Her latest Stephanie Plum novel, Going Rogue: Rise Twenty-Nine is scheduled to be released on November 1, 2022.
Few Top Faqs on Janet Evanovich
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Which are the new releases by Janet Evanovich?
There are a few new and upcoming books by Janet Evanovich – “The Recovery Agent” from Gabriella Rose Books, “Game On Tempting Twenty-Eight” from “Stephanie Plum” series.
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Which is the upcoming book by Janet Evanovich?
“Going Rogue: Rise” from the Stephanie Plum series is upcoming by Janet Evanovich.
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What is the birth date of Janet Evanovich?
Janet Evanovich was born on 22 April 1943.
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