Janet Evanovich has inked a deal with Random house four more novels in her Stephanie Plum series. She also sold four novels in a series co-authored with Lee Goldberg.
Peter Evanovich negotiated the two deals with Random House Publishing Group publisher Gina Centrello and Ballantine Bantam Dell publisher Libby McGuire and from, the author’s agent. In 2010, Evanovich signed with Ballantine Bantam Dell after working with St. Martin’s Press for 15 years.
Here’s more from the release: “The new Evanovich-Goldberg series will feature FBI agent Kate Winslow and international fugitive Danny Cole and will be a thrilling combination of crime, romance, and adventure. The first in the series is scheduled for publication in fall 2013. The next Plum novel, Notorious Nineteen, will be published this November 20, 2012 and just out now is Wicked Business, the second book in Evanovich’s No. 1 bestselling series starring Lizzy and Diesel.”
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A couple of years ago, Wendy foisted a stack of Janet Evanovich books on me. I'd heard about the Stephanie Plum series - most of the WIPs, the writing group from which I've been on hiatus for, like, two years - were obsessed with them, and my mom's friend Amy had gotten her into them, too. I was resistant - I don't really read a ton of series fiction, for adults or teens - but at some point I felt like I owed it to Wendy to give them a shot.
It was love at first read.
To me, the Stephanie Plum books are like a really good batch of homemade mac-n-cheese - not some frou-frou gourmet kind made with lobster and truffle oil, or even the boxed orange stuff from Kraft (though I'm sure Stephanie would prefer that kind). Comfort food reading. I guess they're like the adult mystery equivalent of Meg Cabot's Princess Diaries series; from the outside, they look like light fluff, but once you dive in you're surprised by how wickedly funny they are. These aren't semi-disposable books, but the kind you pass along to anyone who hasn't yet been indoctrinated.
Anyway.
Ever since I got hooked, I've been trying to figure out why the books weren't adapted into a TNT series. To me, they screamed television. But then, last spring, it was announced that there would be a feature film adaptation ... starring Katherine Heigl. That's right; Stephanie Plum's push up bra and too-tight jeans are going to be filled by IZZIE STEVENS.
Now, don't get me wrong. I like Katherine Heigl. I think she's weirdly pretentious, but I also admire how outspoken she is - especially when she publicly backed T.R. Knight after his unfortunate outing. But COME ON. Stephanie Plum? As Meredith would say, "Seriously? Seriously."
So, okay. Wendy was probably even more devastated than I was, but she's been a fan of the books a lot longer than I have. A couple of weeks later, 
. For Morelli, some idiot decided on the very IRISH Jason O'Mara. JASON O'MARA. And yes, he's dreamy, and yes, he looks very, very kissable, but SERIOUSLY? Seriously.
Wendy was more upset over the choice for Ranger - Daniel Sunjata (aka Franco from RESCUE ME) - because she'd always envisioned Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Ranger. I could buy that; I'd always thought Jon Tenney (aka Brenda's husband Fritzy on THE CLOSER) would make a fantastic Morelli.
Both of us are impatient to find out who will be cast as Lula, the lovable "former 'ho" and Stephanie's sometimes sidekick. Wendy's pulling for Mo'nique; I think Sherri Shepherd would be good, too. And then there's Stephanie's Grandma Mazur - I know everybody wants Betty White for the role, but I think that's because she's funny and likes to make dirty jokes, and not because she's anything like Grandma Mazur.
ANYWAY.
All of this is a very long preamble to explain that while trying to find out if anyone else had been cast for the movie, I discovered that Janet Evanovich was doing a very quick book tour and would landing in Bethesda, MD, on June 23rd.
E-mail to Wendy: "We are so there."
And so we were! We drove down to Bethesday in between morning rush hour traffic and the late afternoon rush hour traffic, on a day that hit something like 98 degrees (the temperature, I mean, not the former boy band wannabes). First stop: Barnes & Noble, to pick up the wristbands that would allow us to line up for autographs. We got there at 2:30 and we fell into the 200-250 group. Seriously! They told us to come back at 7:30, which
Katherine Heigl is set to star in ‘One for the Money’, the first in Janet Evanovich’s wildly popular Stephanie Plum series. According to Variety, Reese Witherspoon was previously attached.
So, last spring I was indoctrinated into the cult of Janet Evanovich. This was inevitable; every novel-reading woman in my life is totally in love with her Stephanie Plum series. First it was the ladies of the WIP, my crit group. Then it was my mom, who was indoctrinated by her best friend and my unofficial second mom, Amy. Finally, when Wendy and I reconnected Summer 2007, I gave her the MY SO-CALLED LIFE DVDs and she gave me a stack of Stephanie Plums. I put off reading them for a while, not sure they were my thing, but then some random day I grabbed ONE FOR THE MONEY and was instantly hooked.
For those of you who've never been indoctrinated by a woman you love, here's a little background:
Stephanie Plum is a thirtysomething Jersey girl who, after being laid off from her job, becomes a bounty hunter for her sketchy cousin Vinnie's bail bonds company, much to the chagrin of her traditional "Burg" mother and the extreme pleasure of her quirky, funeral-loving Grandma Mazur. Despite preferring to keep her gun at home in the cookie jar, Stephanie's mix of luck, sex-appeal and financial desperation turn her into a fairly decent bounty hunter, and each volume in the series focuses around one main case and a couple of b-plot FTAs (as in, Failure to Appears) that give the books their trademark mix of mayhem and mystery.
Evanovich has surrounded her messy but lovable protagonist with a super-fun cast of secondary characters. Fan favorites include the afforementioned Grandma Mazur, who often tries to help Stephanie out with her cases and is always talking about male genitalia; she's the sex-charged version of Sofia from GOLDEN GIRLS, only even more wacked-out. There's also Lula, the ex-ho who was hired to do some office filing for Vinnie but more often than not plays Stephanie's unofficial sidekick. She's 200-plus pounds of woman who likes to cram herself into size 4 mini-skirts and defies anyone to say a word. And of course, there are the men in Stephanie's life, most notably her on-again, off-again cop boyfriend Joe Morelli, the guy who deflowered her back in high school and who, despite loving her and wanting to marry her, really wishes she worked at the button factory, and Ranger, her super-hot Cuban bounty hunter mentor who sizzles with sexual tension but won't even tell anyone where he really lives.
I'm barely scratching the surface here, and not doing this fantastic cast of characters justice, so if you want to know more, check out Stephanie's Wikipedia page here.
Don't get me wrong; this isn't great literature and it's far from high art. But it's some serious fun. You can't even call the Evanovich books guilty pleasures, because there's nothing about reading a smart, laugh-out-loud series that should make someone feel guilty. DVR'ing CELEBRITY REHAB? That's a guilty pleasure. The Stephanie Plum series? Like I said: FUN.
I'm now tearing through book number nine, and as the case has been with each new installment I find myself wondering why no one's turned these books into a TV series. Not long ago Wendy and I were brainstorming the dream cast. In her version, Lula was played by Monique and Duane "The Rock" Johnson tackled Ranger. I thought Susan's first ex-husband on DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES would make a perfect Joe Morelli, and neither of us could think of the ideal Grandma Mazur.
Regardless, this is exactly the kind of thing great TV shows are made of. A fiesty and likable lead surrounded by deliciously weird secondary characters. A mystery each week. Awesome opportunities for first-rate guest stars. TV, are you listening? I'd kill for a prime-time Stephanie Plum. And hey - if the major networks would rather pour their resources into flagging dramedies like DIRTY SEXY MONEY, then what about USA, home to such spunky heroines as THE STARTER WIFE's Molly (who, in a recent episode, actually pitched a female bounty hunter series to some execs) and IN PLAIN SIGHT's Witness Relocation Officer with Attitude, Mary Shannon (played by the incomparable Mary McCormack)?
Finally, my question of the day: which book or series of books do YOU think are begging for a TV adaptation?
