TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of September 28, 1997

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
COLD MOUNTAIN
Charles Frazier
Cover of COLD MOUNTAIN

COLD MOUNTAIN

by Charles Frazier · Atlantic Monthly Press

18 wks at #1 · 12 on list

The impact of the Civil War on lovers. Inman is not the man he used to be, as wounded in battle he slowly makes his way home to North Carolina. His sweetheart, Ada, too has changed, no longer a flighty belle but a hard-working farm woman. Will love be the same?

4
NEW
THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS
Caleb Carr
Cover of THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS

THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS

by Caleb Carr · Random House

1 wks on list

In The Angel of Darkness, Caleb Carr brings back the vivid world of his bestselling The Alienist but with a twist: this story is told by the former street urchin Stevie Taggert, whose rough life has given him wisdom beyond his years. Thus New York City, and the groundbreaking alienist Dr. Kreizler himself, are seen anew. It is June 1897. A year has passed since Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a pioneer in forensic psychiatry, tracked down the brutal serial killer John Beecham with the help of a team of trusted companions and a revolutionary application of the principles of his discipline. Kreizler and his friends--high-living crime reporter John Schuyler Moore; indomitable, derringer-toting Sara Howard; the brilliant (and bickering) detective brothers Marcus and Lucius Isaacson; powerful and compassionate Cyrus Montrose; and Stevie Taggert, the boy Kreizler saved from a life of street crime--have returned to their former pursuits and tried to forget the horror of the Beecham case. But when the distraught wife of a Spanish diplomat begs Sara's aid, the team reunites to help find her kidnapped infant daughter. It is a case fraught with danger, since Spain and the United States are on the verge of war. Their investigation leads the team to a shocking suspect: a woman who appears to the world to be a heroic nurse and a loving mother, but who may in reality be a ruthless murderer of children. Once again, Caleb Carr proves his brilliant ability to re-create the past, both high life and low. As the horror unfolds, Delmonico's still serves up wondrous meals, and a summer trip to the elegant gambling parlors of Saratoga provides precious keys to the murderer's past. At the same time, we go onrevealing journeys into Stevie's New York, a place where poor and neglected children--then as now--turn to crime and drugs at shockingly early ages. Peppered throughout are characters taken from real life and rendered with historical vigor, including suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton; painter Albert Pinkham Ryder; and Clarence Darrow, who thunders for the defense in a tense courtroom drama during which the sanctity of American motherhood itself is put on trial. Fast-paced and chilling, The Angel of Darkness is a tour de force, a novel of modern evil in old New York.

6
2
SPECIAL DELIVERY
Danielle Steel
Cover of SPECIAL DELIVERY

SPECIAL DELIVERY

by Danielle Steel · Delacorte Press

12 wks on list

The playboy owner of a successful Beverly Hills boutique, Jack Watson is unexpectedly drawn to Amanda Robbins, the widowed mother of his grown son's wife, in a story of two mismatched, middle-aged people who find happiness and romance despite the confusion, obstacles, and opposition around them.

7
THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS
Arundhati Roy
Cover of THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS

THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS

by Arundhati Roy · Random House

7 wks on list

The story of an Indian family during the 1969 Communist disturbances in Kerala province. It is told through the eyes of a boy and his sister who are the children of a rich rubber planter. Politics, family drama, illicit love. A debut in fiction.

8
2
PLUM ISLAND
Nelson DeMille
Cover of PLUM ISLAND

PLUM ISLAND

by Nelson DeMille · Warner

17 wks on list

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER CELEBRATING THE 20th ANNIVERSARY WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY THE AUTHOR Wounded in the line of duty, NYPD homicide detective John Corey convalesces in the Long Island township of Southold, home to farmers, fishermen -- and at least one killer. Tom and Judy Gordon, a young, attractive couple Corey knows, have been found on their patio, each with a bullet in the head. The local police chief, Sylvester Maxwell, wants Corey's big-city expertise, but Maxwell gets more than he bargained for. John Corey doesn't like mysteries, which is why he likes to solve them. His investigations lead him into the lore, legends, and ancient secrets of northern Long Island -- more deadly and more dangerous than he could ever have imagined. During his journey of discovery, he meets two remarkable women, Detective Beth Penrose and Mayflower descendant Emma Whitestone, both of whom change his life irrevocably. Ultimately, through his understanding of the murders, John Corey comes to understand himself. Fast-paced and atmospheric, marked by entrancing characters, incandescent storytelling, and brilliant comic touches, Plum Island is Nelson DeMille at his thrill-inducing best.

9
2
LONDON
Edward Rutherfurd
Cover of LONDON

LONDON

by Edward Rutherfurd · Crown

17 wks on list
11
2
THE PARTNER
John Grisham
Cover of THE PARTNER

THE PARTNER

by John Grisham · Doubleday

29 wks on list

Large Print Edition of a John Grisham Suspense Thriller.

12
NEW
UNDERWORLD
Don DeLillo
Cover of UNDERWORLD

UNDERWORLD

by Don DeLillo · Scribner

1 wks on list
14
1
UP ISLAND
Anne Rivers Siddons
Cover of UP ISLAND

UP ISLAND

by Anne Rivers Siddons · HarperCollins

16 wks on list

When her husband drops her for a younger woman, Molly Redwine of Atlanta - mother of two adult children and a woman accustomed to comfort - thinks it is the end of the world. But as she recuperates in Martha's Vineyard, Molly discovers other reasons for living - lots of people need her - and gradually she regains her confidence and happiness.

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