TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of April 2, 2006

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THE DA VINCI CODE
Dan Brown
Cover of THE DA VINCI CODE

THE DA VINCI CODE

by Dan Brown · Doubleday

59 wks at #1 · 156 on list

THE #1 WORLDWIDE BESTSELLING PHENOMENON, WITH MORE THAN 85 MILLION COPIES SOLD “Blockbuster perfection . . . a gleefully erudite suspense novel.” —The New York Times “A pulse-quickening, brain-teasing adventure.” —People While in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, his body covered in baffling symbols. As Langdon and gifted French cryptologist Sophie Neveu sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci—clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. Even more startling, the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion, a secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, and he guarded a breathtaking historical secret. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle—while avoiding the faceless adversary who shadows their every move—the explosive, ancient truth will be lost forever. Robert Langdon returns in The Lost Symbol, Inferno, Origin, and The Secret of Secrets (coming soon)!

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THE TENTH CIRCLE
Jodi Picoult
Cover of THE TENTH CIRCLE

THE TENTH CIRCLE

by Jodi Picoult · Atria

2 wks on list

When the daughter of a comic book artist claims she has been raped at a party and her friends turn against her, she runs away to Alaska and her father must face his own violent past as he tries to find her.

5
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DIRTY BLONDE
Lisa Scottoline
Cover of DIRTY BLONDE

DIRTY BLONDE

by Lisa Scottoline · HarperCollins

1 wks on list

The double life of federal judge Cate Fante is exposed when the defendant in a high-profile lawsuit ends up dead and not only threatens her future on the bench but also her very life when the killer comes after her.

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THE TEMPLAR LEGACY
Steve Berry
Cover of THE TEMPLAR LEGACY

THE TEMPLAR LEGACY

by Steve Berry · Ballantine

4 wks on list

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Exciting . . . hard to put down without reading one more page.”—The Florida Times-Union The ancient order of the Knights Templar possessed untold wealth and absolute power over kings and popes . . . until the Inquisition, when they were wiped from the face of the earth, their hidden riches lost. But now two forces vying for the treasure have learned that it is not at all what they thought it was—and its true nature could change the modern world. Cotton Malone, one-time top operative for the U.S. Justice Department, is enjoying his quiet new life as an antiquarian book dealer in Copenhagen when an unexpected call to action reawakens his hair-trigger instincts—and plunges him back into the cloak-and-dagger world he thought he’d left behind. It begins with a violent robbery attempt on Cotton’s former supervisor, Stephanie Nelle, who’s far from home on a mission that has nothing to do with national security. Armed with vital clues to a series of centuries-old puzzles scattered across Europe, she means to crack a mystery that has tantalized scholars and fortune-hunters through the ages by finding the legendary cache of wealth and forbidden knowledge thought to have been lost forever when the order of the Knights Templar was exterminated in the fourteenth century. But she’s not alone. Competing for the historic prize— and desperate for the crucial information Stephanie possesses—is Raymond de Roquefort, a shadowy zealot with an army of assassins at his command. Welcome or not, Cotton seeks to even the odds in the perilous race. But the more he learns about the ancient conspiracy surrounding the Knights Templar, the more he realizes that even more than lives are at stake. At the end of a lethal game of conquest, rife with intrigue, treachery, and craven lust for power, lies a shattering discovery that could rock the civilized world—and, in the wrong hands, bring it to its knees.

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THE LAST TEMPLAR
Raymond Khoury
Cover of THE LAST TEMPLAR

THE LAST TEMPLAR

by Raymond Khoury · Dutton

9 wks on list

The first thrilling novel in Raymond Khoury’s New York Times bestselling Templar series. In 1291, a young Templar knight flees the fallen holy land in a hail of fire and flashing sword, setting out to sea with a mysterious chest entrusted to him by the Order's dying grand master. The ship vanishes without a trace. In present day Manhattan, four masked horsemen dressed as Templar Knights stage a bloody raid on the Metropolitan Museum of Art during an exhibit of Vatican treasures. Emerging with a strange geared device, they disappear into the night. The investigation that follows draws archaeologist Tess Chaykin and FBI agent Sean Reilly into the dark, hidden history of the crusading knights—and into a deadly game of cat and mouse with ruthless killers—as they race across three continents to recover the lost secret of the Templars.

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FALSE IMPRESSION
Jeffrey Archer
Cover of FALSE IMPRESSION

FALSE IMPRESSION

by Jeffrey Archer · St. Martin's

2 wks on list

When an aristocratic old lady is brutally murdered in her country home the night before 9/11, it takes all the resources of the FBI and Interpol to work out the connection between her and the possible motive for her death -- a priceless Van Gogh painting. It's a young woman in the North Tower when the first plane crashed into the building who has the courage and determination to take on both sides of the law and avenge the old lady's death. Anna Petrescu is missing, presumed dead, after 9/11 and she uses her new status to escape from America, only to be pursued across the world from Toronto to London, to Hong Kong, Tokyo and Bucharest, but it is only when she returns to New York that the mystery unfolds. Why are so many people willing to risk their own lives and others' to own the Van Gogh Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear?

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IN THE COMPANY OF THE COURTESAN
Sarah Dunant
Cover of IN THE COMPANY OF THE COURTESAN

IN THE COMPANY OF THE COURTESAN

by Sarah Dunant · Random House

5 wks on list

1527. While the Papal city of Rome burns, two of her most interesting and wily citizens slip away. Though almost as damaged as their beloved city, Fiammetta Bianchini and Bucino Teodoldi - a fabulous courtesan and her dwarf companion - are already planning their future. They head for the shimmering beauty of Venice, a honey pot of wealth and trade where they start to rebuild their business. As a partnership they are invincible: Bucino, clever with a sharp eye and a wicked tongue and Fiammetta, beautiful and shrewd, trained from birth to charm, entertain and satisfy men who have the money to support her. Venice, however, is a city which holds its own temptations...

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THE TWO MINUTE RULE
Robert Crais
Cover of THE TWO MINUTE RULE

THE TWO MINUTE RULE

by Robert Crais · Simon & Schuster

4 wks on list

Devastated by the murder of his estranged police officer son on the day of his own release from prison, former bank robber Max Holman launches a renegade investigation and discovers that the chief suspect is being wrongfully targeted by the LAPD.

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THE REBELS OF IRELAND
Edward Rutherfurd
Cover of THE REBELS OF IRELAND

THE REBELS OF IRELAND

by Edward Rutherfurd · Doubleday

3 wks on list

From the internationally bestselling author of London and Sarum -- a magnificent epic about love and war, family life and political intrigue in Ireland over the course of seventeen centuries. Like the novels of James Michener, The Princes of Ireland brilliantly interweaves engrossing fiction and well-researched fact to capture the essence of a place. Edward Rutherfurd has introduced millions of readers to the human dramas that are the lifeblood of history. From his first bestseller, Sarum, to the #1 bestseller London, he has captivated audiences with gripping narratives that follow the fortunes of several fictional families down through the ages. The Princes of Ireland, a sweeping panorama steeped in the tragedy and glory that is Ireland, epitomizes the power and richness of Rutherfurd’s storytelling magic. The saga begins in pre-Christian Ireland with a clever refashioning of the legend of Cuchulainn, and culminates in the dramatic founding of the Free Irish State in 1922. Through the interlocking stories of a wonderfully imagined cast of characters -- monks and noblemen, soldiers and rebels, craftswomen and writers -- Rutherfurd vividly conveys the personal passions and shared dreams that shaped the character of the country. He takes readers inside all the major events in Irish history: the reign of the fierce and mighty kings of Tara; the mission of Saint Patrick; the Viking invasion and the founding of Dublin; the trickery of Henry II, which gave England its foothold on the island in 1167; the plantations of the Tudors and the savagery of Cromwell; the flight of the “Wild Geese”; the failed rebellion of 1798; the Great Famine and the Easter Rebellion. With Rutherfurd’s well-crafted storytelling, readers witness the rise of the Fenians in the late nineteenth century, the splendours of the Irish cultural renaissance, and the bloody battles for Irish independence, as though experiencing their momentous impact firsthand. Tens of millions of North Americans claim Irish descent. Generations of people have been enchanted by Irish literature, and visitors flock to Dublin and its environs year after year. The Princes of Ireland will appeal to all of them -- and to anyone who relishes epic entertainment spun by a master. From the Hardcover edition.

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LOVERS & PLAYERS
Jackie Collins

LOVERS & PLAYERS

by Jackie Collins · St. Martin's

"Dangerous sex, family secrets, irresistible power, mega money, and two murders equal one reckless week in ""New York".".." In "Lovers & Players" by Jackie Collins, the Diamond family rules. Red Diamond is an abusive and much-loathed billionaire. His three sons, Max, Chris, and Jett, are summoned to New York for a family meeting which rocks their world. Diahann, a beautiful black ex-singer, works as Red's housekeeper--a job her daughter, Liberty, does not approve of. A waitress and would-be singer herself, Liberty has dreams of her own and while she pursues them, Damon P. Donnell, married hip-hop mogul supreme, pursues "her." Young New York heiress Amy Scott-Simon is engaged to marry Max. At her bachelorette party she runs into Jett. Jett has no idea who Amy is. She also doesn't realize who "he" is. A one-night fling leads to major complications. Now the lives of these characters will intertwine, forever changing their destinies, in this highly charged love story about family relationships and deadly choices. "A decadent concoction sure to appeal...a fast lane take on the lives of the rich and fabulous." --"Kirkus Reviews"

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