March's Must-Reads: Mystery, Romance, and Thrills Await!
Jane Heller
After nearly a decade of promoting writers, Jane Heller launched her own career as a successful novelist. Her comic, breezy tales are now entertaining millions of readers around the world.
Her first novel, Cha Cha Cha, published by Kensington in 1994, was a selection of the Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club and was optioned for a television movie by Columbia/TriStar. Her second novel, The Club, was released by Kensington in 1995 and was chosen as a People magazine "Beach Book of the Week." Her third, Infernal Affairs, a 1996 release from Kensington, was optioned by Disney/Touchstone for a feature film, was re-optioned by CBS for a TV movie and was picked as a People magazine "Page Turner of the Week." Princess Charming, Jane's fourth novel, was issued by Kensington in 1997, was chosen as a selection of the Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club, was optioned by Disney for a feature film, and was named a People magazine "Beach Book of the Week." Crystal Clear, novel #5, was published by Kensington in '98.
In 1999, Jane moved to St. Martin's Press for her sixth novel, Sis Boom Bah, a People magazine "Beach Book of the Week" that was optioned by Julia Roberts's Shoelace Productions for a feature film. Name Dropping, published by SMP in 2000, was optioned by Miramax for a feature film. Female Intelligence, a SMP release in 2001, was optioned by CBS for a television movie. In 2002, SMP published The Secret Ingredient, Jane's ninth novel. A March 2003 release in paperback, the book was optioned for a feature film by Atmosphere Productions. In April '03, SMP published Lucky Stars, which was optioned for a feature film by Lakeshore Entertainment. It was followed in February '04 by SMP's publication of Jane's eleventh novel, Best Enemies, a March '05 release in paperback. Her twelfth novel, An Ex to Grind, was a William Morrow/HarperCollins hardcover in July '05 and a July '06 release in an Avon trade paperback edition. Novel number thirteen, Some Nerve, is due out in hardcover from Morrow in September '06.
Jane entered the field of book publishing as an assistant in the publicity department at Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, and rose to the positions of publicity manager at New American Library, publicity director at Dell/Delacorte, and vice president and director of advertising, promotion and publicity at Jove. Authors with whom she worked include such bestselling novelists as Danielle Steel, Stephen King, Judy Blume, John Jakes, Mary Higgins Clark and Erica Jong.
One of six children, Jane grew up in Scarsdale, New York, attended Scarsdale High School, and earned a B.A. in classics from the University of Rochester, where she received Summa Cum Laude honors and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society. The following year, she completed one year of a Master's Program at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School of Communications.
Currently, Jane lives in Santa Barbara with her husband, an architectural photographer.