TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of February 18, 2001

FictionNonfiction
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1
A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT
Terry McMillan
Cover of A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT

A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT

by Terry McMillan · Viking Press

3 wks at #1 · 3 on list

“Without question, this is McMillan’s best. A glorious novel....A moving tapestry of familial love and redemption.”—The Washington Post With her hallmark exuberance and a cast of characters so sassy, resilient, and full of life that they breathe, dream, and shout right off the page, Terry McMillan has given us a tour-de-force novel of family, healing, and redemption. A Day Late and a Dollar Short takes us deep into the hearts, minds, and souls of America—and gives us six more friends we never want to leave.

2
NEW
THE CAT WHO SMELLED A RAT
Lilian Jackson Braun
Cover of THE CAT WHO SMELLED A RAT

THE CAT WHO SMELLED A RAT

by Lilian Jackson Braun · Putnam

1 wks on list

Philanthropist James Quilleran and his crime-solving cats investigate the murders of a volunteer fire-watcher and a local curling champ as a mysterious crime wave engulfs the town of Pickax.

3
1
A DARKNESS MORE THAN NIGHT
Michael Connelly
Cover of A DARKNESS MORE THAN NIGHT

A DARKNESS MORE THAN NIGHT

by Michael Connelly · Little, Brown

2 wks on list

LAPD Detective Harry Bosch crosses paths with FBI profiler Terry McCaleb while investigating the murder of a Hollywood actress. Harry Bosch is up to his neck in a case that has transfixed all of celebrity-mad Los Angeles: a movie director is charged with murdering an actress during sex, and then staging her death to make it look like a suicide. Bosch is both the arresting officer and the star witness in a trial that has brought the Hollywood media pack out in full-throated frenzy. Meanwhile, Terry McCaleb is enjoying an idyllic retirement on Catalina Island when a visit from an old colleague brings his former world rushing back. It's a murder, the unreadable kind of murder he specialized in solving back in his FBI days. The investigation has stalled, and the sheriff's office is asking McCaleb to take a quick look at the murder book to see if he turns up something they've missed. McCaleb's first reading of the crime scene leads him to look for a methodical killer with a taste for rituals and revenge. As his quick look accelerates into a full-sprint investigation, the two crimes -- his murdered loner and Bosch's movie director -- begin to overlap strangely. With one unsettling revelation after another, they merge, becoming one impossible, terrifying case, involving almost inconceivable calculation. McCaleb believes he has unmasked the most frightening killer ever to cross his sights. But his investigation tangles with Bosch's lines, and the two men find themselves at odds in the most dangerous investigation of their lives.

4
THE FIRST COUNSEL
Brad Meltzer
Cover of THE FIRST COUNSEL

THE FIRST COUNSEL

by Brad Meltzer · Warner

4 wks on list

White House lawyer Michael Garrick has a relatively anonymous position at a very public address. That is, until he starts dating Nora Harston (secret service code name: Shadow), the sexy and dangerously irresistible daughter of the President. But the confident young attorney thinks he can handle the pressure. Until, out on a date, Nora and Michael see something they shouldn't. To protect her, he admits to something he shouldn't. And when a body is discovered and Michael is the suspected killer, he finds himself on the run. Now, in a world where power is an aphrodisiac and close friends carry guns and are under strict orders to risk their lives, Michael must find a way to prove his innocence.

6
THE MARK
Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
Cover of THE MARK

THE MARK

by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins · Tyndale

12 wks on list

An evil world leader proclaims himself the Antichrist, drawing up plans to mark all human beings, but the members of the Tribulation Force are determined to stop him.

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SPECIAL OPS
W. E. B. Griffin
10
NEW
MYSTIC RIVER
Dennis Lehane
Cover of MYSTIC RIVER

MYSTIC RIVER

by Dennis Lehane · Morrow

1 wks on list

The murder of one of their daughters re-unites three childhood friends: Sean Devine, the homicide detective; Jimmy Marcus, an ex-con and father of the murdered girl; and Dave Boyle, a troubled man who came home with blood on his clothes on the night of the murder.

11
PRODIGAL SUMMER
Barbara Kingsolver
Cover of PRODIGAL SUMMER

PRODIGAL SUMMER

by Barbara Kingsolver · HarperCollins

16 wks on list

Wildlife biologist Deanna is caught off guard by an intrusive young hunter, while bookish city wife Lusa finds herself facing a difficult identity choice, and elderly neighbors find attraction at the height of a long-standing feud.

12
5
LOST AND FOUND
Jayne Ann Krentz
Cover of LOST AND FOUND

LOST AND FOUND

by Jayne Ann Krentz · Putnam

3 wks on list

The author of Smoke in Mirrors and Soft Focus presents a sexy, irresistible story of two people searching for secrets—and finding each other… Cady Briggs is useful to Mack Easton. Her expertise in art and antiques helps his low-profile company, Lost and Found, find missing treasures for high-paying clients. But Cady knows that being useful to a client is one thing—and being used is another. So no matter how alluring she finds Mack, she plans to keep business and pleasure entirely separate. But then a sudden tragedy puts Cady in charge of Chatelaine’s, her family’s prestigious art and antiques gallery. Suddenly the roles are reversed, as strange developments at Chatelaine’s lead Cady to ask for help from none other than Mack Easton. And instead of tracking down missing masterpieces together, they’ll be hunting for a killer…

13
3
ROSES ARE RED
James Patterson

ROSES ARE RED

by James Patterson · Little, Brown

11 wks on list

Facing a particularly vicious killer in his latest investigation, Alex Cross finds his family targeted by the vengeful Mastermind, a situation complicated by tension in his relationship with his girlfriend and his daughter's unexplained seizures.

14
NEW
BLOOD LURE
Nevada Barr
Cover of BLOOD LURE

BLOOD LURE

by Nevada Barr · Putnam

1 wks on list

In this mystery in Nevada Barr’s New York Times bestselling series, District Park Ranger Anna Pigeon is betrayed by nature itself, as a most unnatural evil stalks its prey in the pristine West… Straddling the border between Montana and Canada lies the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park—Anna’s home away from home when she is sent on a cross-training assignment to study grizzly bears. Along with bear researcher Joan Rand and a volatile, unpredictable teenage boy, Anna hikes the back country, seeking signs of bear. But the tables are turned on their second night out, when one of the beasts comes looking for them. Daybreak finds the boy missing, a camper mutilated, and Anna caught in a grip of fear, painfully aware that her lifelong bond with nature has inexplicably snapped...

15
NEW
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
John le Carre
Cover of THE CONSTANT GARDENER

THE CONSTANT GARDENER

by John le Carre · Scribner

Featuring his strongest heroine since "The Russia House", le Carre's "The Constant Gardener" combines the international suspense of his Cold War thrillers with the exotic romanticism of "The Little Drummer Girl". This is a masterful novel by one of the most compelling and elegant storytellers of our time.

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