In this rollicking series launch from bestseller Evanovich (the Stephanie Plum novels), Gabriela Rose, a globe-trotting insurance fraud investigator who occasionally takes jobs recovering items for private clients, searches for the long-lost treasure of her pirate ancestor, Blackbeard, at the behest of her grandmother. The old woman wants to use any proceeds from the sale of the treasure to help rebuild the little town of Scoon, S.C., which has been devastated by a recent hurricane. First, though, Gabriela must find the pirate's diary, which is hidden somewhere in the house that she gave her ex-husband, Rafer Jones, as part of their divorce settlement. Because the diary is found on his property, Rafer insists he should be part of her expedition. Soon the duo are racing around the Caribbean, Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, New York City, and California wine country, chasing a ring said to have magical properties while pursuing a crazed cult leader who's also pursuing them. This coincidence-filled adventure barrels along toward a good-natured, smiles-all-around ending. Evanovich's many fans will be in heaven. Agent: Celeste Fine, Park & Fine Literary and Media. (Mar.)

Evanovich launches her new Gabriela Rose series with an action-packed adventure that delights much like the Indiana Jones films and the classic Romancing the Stone. It has everything, from killer snakes, military-grade assault weapons, and human sacrifice to romance and some top-shelf lingerie that comes in handy for treating the wounded. Gabriela is a "recovery agent" who finds lost treasures and people. When her family's hometown is in ruin after a monstrous hurricane, she needs a way to come up with a lot of money fast. Since she is possibly a descendant of the pirate Blackbeard, and since her grandmother is in regular communication with the ghost of his lover--you read that right!--she sets off for the jungles of Peru in search of the Ring of Solomon and the lost treasure of Cortez, using a map made by Sir Francis Drake. Along the way, she is joined by her ex-husband, Rafer, who decides he wants in on the action. They come up against an alleged sorcerer and drug lord named El Dragón, who fancies himself the spokesperson for Supay, the Incan god of death, who guards the horde. The rest has to be discovered by the reader first-hand. A rollicking adventure and a great start to a new series.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The New York Times has called Evanovich "the most popular mystery writer alive," and her new series will do nothing to alter that appraisal.

Initially seen in 2020's Fortune and Glory, another Stephanie Plum escapade, Gabriella Rose gets to do her own thing in the first new series Evanovich has launched on her own in a while. Stephanie's adversary in the last book, Gabriella is a designer-clad supercook and recovery agent from Miami's Little Havana, and she's starting out big; there's a 500,000-copy first printing. Originally scheduled for June 2021.