Jane Stanton Hitchcock Books In Order

Publication Order of Jo Slater Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Jane Stanton Hitchcock is a best-selling author and playwright.

She was born in New York City on November 24, 1946, as Jane Johnston Crowley. Her parents were Robert and Joan. She also had a brother named Tim. Her father was a surgeon while her mother was an actress. She played Lois Lane on The Adventures of Superman, a radio serial, and played Della Street on Perry Mason, a radio serial. Her mother would divorce her father and then get married to a man named Arthur Stanton. He adopted the then-9-years-old Jane as his own and that is when she became Jane Crowley Stanton.

Her mother had her own show, The Name’s the Same. She also starred on Broadway in plays “Witness for the Prosecution” and “Poor Richard”. Meanwhile, Stanton helped in bringing Volkswagen to the United States in the early part of the fifties.

Jane was enrolled in The Brearley School and then The Mary C. Wheeler School. For higher education, she went on to attend Sarah Lawrence College. She graduated in 1968. Nine years later in 1975, Jane married William Mellon Hitchcock and took his last name, becoming Jane Stanton Hitchcock.

Growing up in New York City, Hitchcock realized that money and fame were not all they were said to be. She has since explored this theme in various screenplays, stage plays, and her books, many of whom deal with themes like murder and indecency affecting the higher classes.

She is known for her mystery novels and today is a big poker player. She can be seen competing in the World Poker Tour as well as the World Series of Poker. She also wrote a 2019 novel Bluff that focuses on her passion for poker. It also shows how poker helps a young woman get revenge against a man who cheated her family from their fortune. Released by Poisoned Pen, it won the 2019 Hammett Prize from the International Association of Crime Writers.

Jane wrote a screenplay for a movie called Our Time that came out in 1974 using the name Jane C. Stanton. Directed by Peter Hyams, it was set in Massachusetts at an all-girls boarding school. The play took on such topics as abortion and dealt with what that looks like with girls who are born into privilege.

Stanton Hitchcock would have another hit when she wrote First Love, a 1977 Paramount picture, sharing writing credits with David Freeman. The film was directed by Joan Darling. Her play Grace would be produced in 1981 by the American Place Theatre, directed by Peter Thompson. Her farce Bhutan was put on at the South Street Theater in 1983.

Her adaptation The Custom of the Country based on Edith Wharton’s novel was put on at The Mount by Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. The play would be put on once more in September 1985 at the Second Stage Theatre, directed by Daniel Gerroll. Finally, in 1990, her play Vanilla was directed by Harold Pinter and put on at the Lyric Theatre in London.

Her first novel was published in 1992 by Signet/Penguin and is titled Trick of the Eye. The novel was nominated for the Edgar Award and Hammett Prize as ‘best first novel’. She would come out with more books, including The Witches’ Hammer, which dealt with the occult and witch hunting.

The 1994 novel was followed by Social Crimes in 2002, which was a best seller on the New York Times book list. Apparently, many of the readers in her ow social circle had speculated that the glamorous Jo Slater, New York socialite, was actually based on them. The sequel was also a best seller, and readers enjoyed One Dangerous Lady when it came out in 2005.

Her novel Mortal Friends was published in 2009, set in Washington, D.C. She would go onto Washington Unplugged on CBS with Bob Schieffer to do promotion for the book.

Jane has worked on The Apple Tree for Mike Nichols. She was also Andre Previn’s assistant when he served as conductor for the London Symphony Orchestra.

Jane was also close with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and read Psalm 23 at her funeral in 1994. She would divorce her first husband three years previous to this in 1991. She is married to Jim Hoagland, a journalist that has twice won the Pulitzer Prize and was a columnist and contributing editor for The Washington Post. The two were married in 1995.The two reside in Washington, D.C., and New York City.

Trick of the Eye is a murder mystery novel seen from Faith Crowell’s point of view. The decorator to the rich is hired to redecorate a ballroom. CBS aired the adaptation of this book into a movie on October 23, 1994.

When the author’s step-father passed away in 1987, he left his wife about $70 to $80 million. This was to be seen by Kenneth Ira Starr, who they had met through Jane. But when Starr begins making questionable investments, among other things, Jane and her mother get suspicious. Then a family friend uncovered a plan to use their home as collateral on a line of credit. Also, his lifestyle had been the result of taking Stanton’s money.

Jane got her mother to get legal help and brought it to the New York County District Attorneys attention. Her mother sued in 2008 but would pass away in 2009. Jane got the lawsuit settled later and helped with criminal investigation. He pled guilty in 2010 and received seven and a half years in federal prison in 2011.

Jane is featured in an episode of American Greed which details her being the first to let authorities know that Kenneth Ira Starr was swindling his accountant clients. The 2012 episode contained interviews with her detailing how she continued to pursue Starr until he was convicted.

Social Crimes is the first novel in the Jo Slater series by Jane Stanton Hitchcock. This is where readers meet Jo Slater, a socialite in New York City, for the first time.

The novel opens with drama as Jo Slater’s husband has died. The big shock, however, is when Jo finds out that he left his estate to some French countess.

Jo needs to recover and save face. She’s usually the queen of New York, and she wants it to stay that way. When she comes up with a revenge scheme, will she be able to carry it out? Read this book to find out!

One Dangerous Lady is the second novel in the Jo Slater series by Jane Stanton Hitchcock.

Jo Slater is back, and in Barbados. When art collector and wealthy Russell Cole goes missing off his yacht, she suspects his wife might know more than she pretends to. But when she goes back to New York, someone from her past is putting her at risk. Can she figure out who’s right and who’s wrong before it’s too late?

Read One Dangerous Lady to find out!