NEW YORK, March 2 – In a blockbuster deal, Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, announced today that it has acquired world rights to four new novels from mega-bestselling author Janet Evanovich, one of the biggest selling authors in the world with 25 #1 New York Times bestsellers and nearly 100 million books sold.

Two of the books to be published by Atria will feature Evanovich’s hugely popular series character, Stephanie Plum. The first, titled Fortune and Glory, the 27^th book in the Stephanie Plum series, will be published on November 10, 2020. The third book in the deal will be the start of a new spin-off series written solely by Evanovich that will be shopped as a film and TV franchise. The final book in the deal, The Bounty, will be the seventh installment in Evanovich’s bestselling Fox & O’Hare series and will be co-written with New York Times bestselling author Peter Evanovich.

This deal signals a return to Simon & Schuster, Inc. for Evanovich. The first three books in her Stephanie Plum series were published by Scribner/S&S, starting with One for the Money in 1994.

“I am excited to be joining Atria and returning to Simon & Schuster where Stephanie Plum got her start,” Evanovich said. “I’m also delighted to be working again with Libby McGuire, and to have my new editor, Peter Borland, and a terrific sales team.”

Libby McGuire, SVP and Publisher of the Atria Publishing Group, said, “It’s a thrill to be reunited with Janet Evanovich, whose brilliant and entertaining books have earned her millions of devoted fans. The entire Atria team has Plum fever!”

The blockbuster deal comes just six months after Evanovich signed with Shane Salerno at The Story Factory. The demand for Evanovich’s work among readers has shown no signs of slowing down. Her latest Plum adventure, Twisted Twenty-Six, published in November 2019, opened at #1 on the New York Times Hardcover Fiction bestseller list, #1 on the Times combined Print and Ebook Fiction list, and #1 on Publisher’s Weekly, USA Today, Apple, B&N and Audible – a remarkable accomplishment for the 26^th book in a series. The continued success has made Evanovich a perennial target for major publishers.

Janet Evanovich is the author of 25 #1 New York Times bestsellers and 39 New York Times bestsellers in total. Her novels have been translated into forty languages. After writing a series of romance novels, Evanovich took her career in a new direction in 1994 with the creation of bounty hunter Stephanie Plum.  In 2000, Hot Six, the sixth book in the series, reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, a spot Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels have consistently attained ever since.

For Atria and Simon & Schuter, the negotiations were conducted by McGuire, Borland and Atria’s legal team and for Evanovich by Salerno and attorney’s Richard Heller and Mark Merriman.