book
pick
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FRANCE FREEMAN
A Plum job
Author harvests fruitful series
By Shana McNally
JANET EVANOVICH WAS a stay-at-home mom person withanoddjob.”
who decided to try writing. The more she wrote the Both Evanovich and her fictional heroine are
more she loved it, but it took 10 years and endless from New Jersey, have owned a hamster, have driven
rejection slips (long since burned) before her first a 1953 powder blue Buick and share interests such as
manuscript was accepted. comic books and movies with happy endings.
“Fortunately, I had a support- “We started with some of the same
ive family who never said I had to go history, and now we’ve sort of just grown
out and get a ‘real’ job,” the author of together,” Evanovich says. “Stephanie’s
the Stephanie Plum series tells The now a bit better bounty hunter who is
Costco Connection from her home in more willing to take responsibility for
Naples, Florida. She worked as a wait- her actions and understands she has a
ress, used-car salesperson and telemar- commitment issue. I just go with what
keter when necessary. seems like it will be fun.”
MARION ET TLINGER
After writing 12 romance novels Luckily for her readers, Evanovich
at $2,000 a pop over five years, does not have an end to the series in
Evanovich was ready for a change mind. Besides, she finds it’s getting easier
and—after a two-year hiatus to write as she’s gotten to know the
spent “drinking beer and prac- characters better and has become a more
t icing cussing”—moved on to Janet Evanovich skilled writer.
m ysteries, where shecouldinject Being a bestselling author is a full-m ore humor and action and less relationship time job, and Evanovich rarely takes time off after the
i nto the stories. four months it takes her to complete a book. “It took
Enter Stephanie Plum, a New Jersey so long to get here and I worked so hard, so now I’m at
bounty hunter inspired by the movie the top and I have all this success and all these oppor-
Midnight Run, who made her debut in tunities, and it’s very hard to say no,” she says.
1 994’s One for the Money—this month’s In addition to the Plum series, Evanovich is the
B ook Buyer’s Pick. She makes her latest author of the Metro Girl series. She also is the co-a ppearance in Lean Mean Thirteen, the 13th author of the Full House series with Charlotte Hughes
title in the series, in which Plum’s ex has gone missing and an upcoming series with Stephen J. Cannell.
and there’s speculation whether she was involved. “Co-authoring is nice for my readers because
Other familiar characters include Plum’s cousin they’re voracious and it delivers the same entertain-and boss, Vinnie; retired hooker, co-worker and friend ment with a little different voice,” she notes. “Plus, it’s
Lula; two romantic interests: cop Joe Morelli and the nice to team up with my friends, although it’s little bit
mysterious Ranger; and fan favorite Grandma Mazur like wearing someone else’s underpants, because it’s
(a combination of Evanovich’s Aunt Lena and her not totally your product, and I’m such a control freak
Grandma Schneider). I have to exert self-discipline.”
“People are very appreciative of humorous enter- Self-discipline she has. Evanovich arises at 5 a.m.
tainment,” says the award-winning author. “These with her cat and her coffee, and writes until 1 p.m.
characters are approachable; Stephanie’s a normal Then she moves into the business stuff (research,
talking to editors) with her husband, Peter, who is her
business manager, and her son, also named Peter, who
is her finance manager.
Next she tries to get in some exercise before she meets
with her daughter, Alex, the Webmaster of her popular
interactive site www.evanovich.com, to answer mail.
When she does need a break you can find her
watching NASCAR races, trolling the mall or munching on a mega tub of Cheez Doodles from her new
favorite store, Costco.
All in all, she regards herself as one lucky lady. Her
family, which splits its time between Hanover, New
Hampshire, and Naples, is by her side as always, and
she gets to write for a living.
“I love the entertainment aspect—being able to
communicate, to entertain, to make people laugh,” she
says. “It’s icing on the cake that other people happen to
like the books.” C
Pennie Clark Ianniciello
Costco Book Buyer
WITH SO MANY new
books being published,
taking time to revisit a
favorite book is a rare treat.
What could be tastier than
rereading Janet Eva-
novich’s One
for the Money?
She introduces
readers to the
brassy bounty
hunter Stephanie Plum—who
happens to be
out of work and
money. Evanovich
delivers laughs
and clever prose
with each novel. I
guarantee that if you love
the first in this series, now
up to a respectable 13,
you’ll love them all.
One for the Money and
the new Lean Mean Thirteen are available at most
Costco warehouses and at
costco.com. C
Signed book
giveaway
COSTCO HAS 10 copies of Janet
Evanovich’s new novel, Lean Mean
Thirteen, to give away. To enter, print
your name, membership number,
address and daytime phone number
on a postcard or letter and send it to:
Janet Evanovich, The Costco
Connection, P.O. Box 34088, Seattle,
WA 98124-1088. Or send an e-mail to
giveaway@costco.com, with “Janet
Evanovich” in the subject line.
No purchase is necessary.
Only current Costco members
are eligible to win. One entry
per household. Entries must be
received or postmarked by August
1, 2007. Winners will be randomly
selected and notified by mail on
or before September 1, 2007. The
value of the prize is $27.95. Void
where prohibited. Winners are
responsible for all applicable
federal, state and local taxes.
The decision of the judges is
final. Employees of Costco or St.
Martin’s Press and their families
are not eligible.
