TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of February 23, 1997

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
HORNET'S NEST
Patricia Cornwell
Cover of HORNET'S NEST

HORNET'S NEST

by Patricia Cornwell · Putnam

4 wks at #1 · 4 on list

In Charlotte, North Carolina, a woman killer is murdering visiting businessmen and painting their genitals orange. The hunt for the killer is led by two women, one the city's chief of police, the other her deputy, and they are accompanied by a young newspaper reporter, eager to earn his spurs.

2
TOTAL CONTROL
David Baldacci
Cover of TOTAL CONTROL

TOTAL CONTROL

by David Baldacci · Warner

4 wks on list

Sidney Archer erhält einen Anruf und glaubt die Stimme ihres unter mysteriösen Umständen tödlich verunglückten Mannes Jason zu erkennen. FBI-Agent Lee Sawyer, mit der Untersuchung des Flugzeugabsturzes betraut, verfolgt eine Spur quer durch die USA.

3
5
SMALL TOWN GIRL
LaVyrle Spencer
Cover of SMALL TOWN GIRL

SMALL TOWN GIRL

by LaVyrle Spencer · Putnam

2 wks on list

A famous country music star is shamed by her sister into going home to look after her bedridden mother. The town is dull, her mother gets on her nerves and the "dork" who had a crush on her in high school is once again after her. But with time she gets used to it, even falls in love with the dork. By the author of That Camden Summer.

4
NEW
SOLE SURVIVOR
Dean Koontz
Cover of SOLE SURVIVOR

SOLE SURVIVOR

by Dean Koontz · Knopf

1 wks on list

A plane crash robs Joe of his wife and daughters. He meets a woman who claims to have survived the crash but before Joe can get answers, she disappears. Now he must find this woman to clear up the mystery.

6
1
AIRFRAME
Michael Crichton
Cover of AIRFRAME

AIRFRAME

by Michael Crichton · Knopf

10 wks on list
8
1
THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN
Jacquelyn Mitchard
Cover of THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN

THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN

by Jacquelyn Mitchard · Viking Press

22 wks on list

"Masterful...A big story about human connection and emotional survival" - Los Angeles Times The first book ever chosen by Oprah's Book Club Few first novels receive the kind of attention and acclaim showered on this powerful story—a nationwide bestseller, a critical success, and the first title chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Both highly suspenseful and deeply moving, The Deep End of the Ocean imagines every mother's worst nightmare—the disappearance of a child—as it explores a family's struggle to endure, even against extraordinary odds. Filled with compassion, humor, and brilliant observations about the texture of real life, here is a story of rare power, one that will touch readers' hearts and make them celebrate the emotions that make us all one.

10
6
THE CLINIC
Jonathan Kellerman
Cover of THE CLINIC

THE CLINIC

by Jonathan Kellerman · Bantam

6 wks on list

In this riveting follow-up to the "New York Times bestseller "The Clinic, Jonathan Kellerman proves once again why he is "crime fiction's hottest author." And psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware confronts an almost unimaginably cruel, arrogant, and obsessed killer who takes as much pleasure in matching wits with the police as in robbing human life. The slightly retarded fifteen-year-old daughter of a diplomat dies on a school field trip--forced or lured into a deserted corner of the Santa Monica mountains and killed in cold blood. Her father adamantly denies the possibility of a political motive, which leaves LAPD detective Milo Sturgis and his longtime friend psychologist Alex Delaware to pose the question: Why? There are no signs of struggle, no evidence of sexual assault--and there are no easy answers. Just one innocent youngster...dead. The victim's father is so intent on controlling the investigation that Alex and Milo start to wonder if he wants to bring out the truth--or make sure it stays buried. Then there is another killing, and within days Alex finds himself ensnared in one of the darkest, most menacing cases of his career. Driven to find answers, he and Milo will work closely with Inspector Daniel Sharavi, the brilliant Israeli police detective introduced in Jonathan Kellerman's "The Butcher's Theater. In the end, though, it is Alex who will go undercover, alone, to expose the smug brutality of a murderous conspiracy and a terrifying contempt for human life. Weaving together the threads of a mystery that lead from a child's murder to a young scientist's suicide, Jonathan Kellerman draws one of the most chilling, frighteningly realistic portraits of evil you willever experience.

11
THE CAT WHO TAILED A THIEF
Lilian Jackson Braun
Cover of THE CAT WHO TAILED A THIEF

THE CAT WHO TAILED A THIEF

by Lilian Jackson Braun · Putnam

2 wks on list

THE FIRST COZY MYSTERY IN THE BELOVED NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING CAT WHO SERIES! The world of modern art is a mystery to many. But for Jim Qwilleran, it turns into a mystery of another sort when his assignment for The Daily Fluxion leads down the path to murder. A stabbing in an art gallery, vandalized paintings, a fatal fall from a scaffolding—this is not at all what Qwilleran expects when he turns his reporter talents to art. But Qwilleran and his newly found partner, Koko the brilliant Siamese cat, are in their element—sniffing out clues and confounding criminals intent on mayhem and murder. This riveting beginning to the Cat Who series is the perfect cozy mystery for cat lovers to start sleuthing!

13
THE UNLIKELY SPY
Daniel Silva
Cover of THE UNLIKELY SPY

THE UNLIKELY SPY

by Daniel Silva · Villard

5 wks on list

Beautiful aristocrat caring for London bombing victims is also a Nazi spy trying to notify Germans of the Allied invasion.

Historical bestseller data sourced from the New York Times Book Review, archived by Hawes Publications.