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Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of April 26, 2009

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1
NEW
TURN COAT
Jim Butcher
Cover of TURN COAT

TURN COAT

by Jim Butcher · Roc

1 wks at #1 · 1 on list

Jim Butcher’s breakthrough #1 New York Times bestseller starring Chicago’s only professional wizard, Harry Dresden. When it comes to the magical ruling body known as the White Council, Harry is thought of as either a black sheep or a sacrificial lamb. And none hold him in more disdain than Morgan, a veteran Warden with a grudge against anyone who bends the rules. But now, Morgan is in trouble. He’s been accused of cold-blooded murder—a crime with only one, final punishment. He’s on the run, wanting his name cleared, and he needs someone with a knack for backing the underdog. So it’s up to Harry to uncover a traitor within the Council, keep Morgan under wraps, and avoid coming under scrutiny himself. And a single mistake may cost someone his head. Someone like Harry...

2
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JUST TAKE MY HEART
Mary Higgins Clark
Cover of JUST TAKE MY HEART

JUST TAKE MY HEART

by Mary Higgins Clark · Simon & Schuster

1 wks on list

When Natalie Raines, famous Broadway star, is found in her home in Closter, New Jersey, dying from a gunshot wound, her former husband, Gregg Aldrich, whom she was in the process of divorcing, is the chief suspect. What no one knows is that, only days before she was murdered, Natalie accidentally came face to face with the man who killed her former roommate, Jamie Evans. Two years later, career criminal Jimmy Easton, comes forward to claim that Aldrich hired him to kill his wife, but he turned the job down. Based on Easton's testimony, Gregg is charged with the murder of his wife. Handling the case is Emily Wallace, an attractive thirty-two-year-old widowed assistant prosecutor. As Aldrich's trial is making headlines, Emily's boss, Ted Wesley, warns her that this high-profile case will reveal personal matters about her, such as the fact that she had a heart transplant. And, during the trial, Emily experiences sentiments which defy all reason and continue after Gregg Aldrich's fate is decided by the jury. In the meantime, she does not realize that her own life is now at risk.

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LONG LOST
Harlan Coben
Cover of LONG LOST

LONG LOST

by Harlan Coben · Dutton

2 wks on list

The bestselling author and creator of the hit Netflix drama The Stranger ratchets up the tension as sports agent Myron Bolitar gets mixed up in some international intrigue in this #1 New York Times bestseller. With an early morning phone call, an old flame wakes Myron Bolitar from sleep. Terese Collins is in Paris, and she needs his help. In her debt, Myron makes the trip, and learns of a decade-long secret: Terese once had a daughter who died in a car accident. Now it seems as though that daughter may be alive—and tied to a sinister plot with shocking global implications....

4
2
THE HOST
Stephenie Meyer
Cover of THE HOST

THE HOST

by Stephenie Meyer · Little, Brown

48 wks on list

The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed. But Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind. Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves--Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.--From publisher description.

5
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FATALLY FLAKY
Diane Mott Davidson
Cover of FATALLY FLAKY

FATALLY FLAKY

by Diane Mott Davidson · William Morrow and Company

1 wks on list

Colorado caterer Goldy Schulz encounters bridezilla—and murder—in another delectable novel by the New York Times bestselling author of Sweet Revenge, Dark Tort, and Double Shot. It's been a long, rainy summer for Goldy Schulz, who is engaged in planning wedding receptions for what seems to be all of Aspen Meadow. It's bad enough that Billie Attenborough, the bride from hell, has changed her menu six times and the event date twice. Now she wants to move the location to the Gold Gulch Spa just a scant two days before tying the knot to her doctor fiancé. Then Doc Finn, beloved local physician and the best friend of Goldy's godfather, Jack, is killed when his car tumbles into a ravine. At least that's what appears to have happened. But Jack thinks Doc was murdered because of the research he was doing at the spa—allegations that are confirmed when Jack himself is attacked. So Goldy dons chef's whites and goes undercover at the spa, where coffee is outlawed in favor of calming smoothies, and the fruit cocktail doesn't include fresh fruit. Add in the obstreperous owner, who years ago tried to sabotage Goldy's fledgling business, and she's got her hands full. Above all, there seems to be a clever killer on the spa grounds, watching her every move. After what befell Jack, Goldy knows that she might be next. Catering weddings, and cooking low-fat food, could be killing her—literally.

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THE ASSOCIATE
John Grisham
Cover of THE ASSOCIATE

THE ASSOCIATE

by John Grisham · Doubleday

11 wks on list

Prometedor oscuro secreto del colegio de abogados graduados Kyle McAvoy es descubierto por unos personajes sin escr{250}pulos que chantajearlo a tomar un trabajo con un prestigioso bufete de abogados, donde participa en un sistema ilegal y peligroso.

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BORDERLINE
Nevada Barr
Cover of BORDERLINE

BORDERLINE

by Nevada Barr · Putnam

1 wks on list

The New York Times bestseller starring Anna Pigeon from the author of Winter Study. “Action-packed…a narrative that plunges readers into mystery [and] mayhem.”—The Denver Post Hoping a raft trip in Big Bend National Park will lift her spirits, Anna Pigeon and her husband Paul go to southwest Texas, where the Rio Grande is running high. The beauty of the Chihuahuan Desert and the power of the river work their magic—until the raft is lost in the rapids and a young college student makes a grisly discovery. Caught in a strainer between two boulders—and more dead than alive—is a pregnant woman. Anna will soon discover that nature isn’t the only one who wants to see the woman and her baby dead…

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HANDLE WITH CARE
Jodi Picoult
Cover of HANDLE WITH CARE

HANDLE WITH CARE

by Jodi Picoult · Atria

6 wks on list

When Willow is born with severe osteogenesis imperfecta, her parents are devastated—she will suffer hundreds of broken bones as she grows, a lifetime of pain. In this provocative story from the #1 New York Times bestselling author, “Picoult writes with unassuming brilliance” (Stephen King). Every expectant parent insists the same thing: they simply want a healthy baby. Charlotte and Sean O’Keefe wanted the same but instead, their lives are made up of sleepless nights, mounting bills, pity from other parents, and haunting what-ifs. Yet, in other ways, their daughter Willow is a perfect child. Smart as a whip, beautiful, brave, and kind, Willow is Willow, in sickness and in health. Everything changes, though, after a series of events forces Charlotte and Sean to confront the most serious what-ifs of all. What if Charlotte had known earlier of Willow’s illness? What if things could have been different? What if their beloved Willow had never been born? To do Willow justice, Charlotte must ask herself these questions and one more: what constitutes a valuable life? “Well-written and conscientiously researched” (The Washington Post), Handle with Care is an unforgettable and emotionally riveting novel that explores the fragility of life and the lengths we go to protect it.

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CURSED
Carol Higgins Clark
Cover of CURSED

CURSED

by Carol Higgins Clark · Scribner

1 wks on list

Private Investigator Regan Reilly moved from Los Angeles to New York City when she married her husband, Jack "no relation" Reilly, head of the NYPD Major Case Squad. To help a friend she ends up taking on a case that calls her back to her old stomping ground... Cursed opens on a cold and gray January morning. Sleet and snow are swirling as Regan arrives at a warehouse in Long Island City with a trunk full of her old case files from Los Angeles. After carting all her boxes into a storage unit, she heads back out into the snow, and her cell phone rings. Abigail Feeney, a young woman who had lived across the hall from Regan in an apartment complex in the Hollywood Hills, is on the line. Abigail believes her life has been cursed since birth. She was born on Friday the 13th of January, and her parents gave her a name with 13 letters. A hairdresser on movie sets, Abigail was recently injured at work when a piece of scaffolding fell and knocked her over, and her arm was broken in two places. But that isn't why she is calling. "Regan!" she exclaims. "The 'no good bum' has been spotted in town. I desperately need the money he owes me. Can you please come out here and help me find him?" Regan immediately knows the identity of the "no good bum." From her L.A. apartment, Regan had often seen Abigail's ex, Cody Castle, sitting by the pool, bent over his cell phone, text messaging nonstop. Before he disappeared three months ago, he borrowed $100,000 from Abigail. He promised to pay her back in three months. "Find him?" Regan asks. "Yes! My grandmother is flying here tomorrow. There's a condo she wants to buy me. But we need that money. She can't find out I don't have it. Regan, can't you spend a few days with me?" If Regan weren't freezing, she might have made an excuse. But Jack was away at a seminar, Regan had never liked the "no good bum," and Abigail had brought her chicken soup when she'd had the flu last winter. Within hours Regan is on a flight to Los Angeles where her adventure with Abigail will take her from the beaches of Malibu, to the mountains north of the city, to the renovated lofts of downtown L.A. Regan starts to feel Abigail's curse is contagious as she encounters a cast of characters who aren't always welcoming. Some are downright dangerous. And there's one who is the most dangerous of all...

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TRUE DETECTIVES
Jonathan Kellerman
Cover of TRUE DETECTIVES

TRUE DETECTIVES

by Jonathan Kellerman · Ballantine

3 wks on list

When a man is hired to investigate the disappearance of twenty-year-old woman, he discovers that his estranged half-brother cop is also on the case, but only after consulting psychologist Alex Delaware do they stand any chance of success.

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LAVENDER MORNING
Jude Deveraux
Cover of LAVENDER MORNING

LAVENDER MORNING

by Jude Deveraux · Atria

2 wks on list

Jocelyn Minton is shunned by her late mother's upper-crust circles after her handyman father marries a working-class second wife, but she is befriended years later by a wealthy elderly woman who leaves her her considerable estate.

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CORSAIR
Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul

CORSAIR

by Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul · Putnam

5 wks on list

Over five novels, Clive Cussler has brought readers into the world of the Oregon, a seemingly dilapidated ship packed with sophisticated equipment, and captained by the rakish, one-legged Juan Cabrillo. And now the Oregon and its crew face their biggest challenge yet. Corsairs are pirates, and pirates come in many different varieties. There are the pirates who fought off the Barbary Coast in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the contemporary pirates who infest the waters of Africa and Asia and the pirates ... who look like something else. When the U.S. Secretary of State's plane crashes while bringing her to a summit meeting in Libya, the CIA, distrusting the Libyans, hire Cabrillo to search for her, and the misgivings are well founded. The crew locates the plane - but the Secretary of State has vanished. It turns out Libya's new foreign minister has other plans for the conference, ones Cabrillo cannot let happen. But what does it all have to do with a 200-year-old naval battle, and the centuries-old Islamic scrolls that the Libyans seem so determined to find? The answers will lead him, Cabrillo full circle into history and into another pitched battle on the sea, this time against Islamic terrorists, and with the fate of nations resting on its outcome.

13
THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY
Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Cover of THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY

THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY

by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows · Dial Press

30 wks on list

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A NETFLIX FILM • A remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German Occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name. “Treat yourself to this book, please—I can’t recommend it highly enough.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love “I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb. . . . As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever. Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises and of finding connection in the most surprising ways. Praise for The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society “A jewel . . . Poignant and keenly observed, Guernsey is a small masterpiece about love, war, and the immeasurable sustenance to be found in good books and good friends.”—People “A book-lover’s delight, an implicit and sometimes explicit paean to all things literary.”—Chicago Sun-Times “A sparkling epistolary novel radiating wit, lightly worn erudition and written with great assurance and aplomb.”—The Sunday Times (London) “Cooked perfectly à point: subtle and elegant in flavour, yet emotionally satisfying to the finish.”—The Times (London)

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ONCE A RUNNER
John L. Parker Jr.
Cover of ONCE A RUNNER

ONCE A RUNNER

by John L. Parker Jr. · Scribner

1 wks on list

The undisputed classic of running novels and one of the most beloved sports books ever published, Once a Runner tells the story of an athlete’s dreams amid the turmoil of the 60s and the Vietnam war. Inspired by the author’s experience as a collegiate champion, the novel follows Quenton Cassidy, a competitive runner at fictional Southeastern University whose lifelong dream is to run a four-minute mile. He is less than a second away when the turmoil of the Vietnam War era intrudes into the staid recesses of his school’s athletic department. After he becomes involved in an athletes’ protest, Cassidy is suspended from his track team. Under the tutelage of his friend and mentor, Bruce Denton, a graduate student and former Olympic gold medalist, Cassidy gives up his scholarship, his girlfriend, and possibly his future to withdraw to a monastic retreat in the countryside and begin training for the race of his life against the greatest miler in history. A rare insider’s account of the incredibly intense lives of elite distance runners, Once a Runner is an inspiring, funny, and spot-on tale of one individual’s quest to become a champion.

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OUTCAST
Aaron Allston
Cover of OUTCAST

OUTCAST

by Aaron Allston · Del Rey/Ballantine

3 wks on list

THE NEXT CHAPTER IN THE EXTRAORDINARY HISTORY OF THE STAR WARS GALAXY BEGINS HERE. . . . After a violent civil war and the devastation wrought by the now-fallen Darth Caedus, the Galactic Alliance is in crisis–and in need. From all corners, politicians, power brokers, and military leaders converge on Coruscant for a crucial summit to restore order, negotiate differences, and determine the future of their unified worlds. But even more critical, and far more uncertain, is the future of the Jedi. In a shocking move, Chief of State Natasi Daala orders the arrest of Luke Skywalker for failing to prevent Jacen Solo’s turn to the dark side and his subsequent reign of terror as a Sith Lord. But it’s only the first blow in an anti-Jedi backlash fueled by a hostile government and suspicious public. When Jedi Knight Valin Horn, scion of a politically influential family, suffers a mysterious psychotic break and becomes a dangerous fugitive, the Jedi become the target of a media-driven witch hunt. Facing conviction on the damning charges, Luke must strike a bargain with the calculating Daala: his freedom in exchange for his exile from Coruscant and from the Jedi Order. Though forbidden to intervene in Jedi affairs, Luke is determined to keep history from being repeated. With his son, Ben, at his side, Luke sets out to unravel the shocking truth behind Jacen Solo’s corruption and downfall. But the secrets he uncovers among the enigmatic Force mystics of the distant world Dorin may bring his quest–and life as he knows it–to a sudden end. And all the while, another Jedi Knight, consumed by the same madness as Valin Horn, is headed for Coruscant on a fearsome mission that could doom the Jedi Order . . . and devastate the entire galaxy. Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!

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MALICE
Lisa Jackson
Cover of MALICE

MALICE

by Lisa Jackson · Kensington

The scent is unmistakable: the perfume that his beautiful first wife Jennifer always wore. Opening his eyes in the hospital room, New Orleans detective Rick Bentz sees her standing in the doorway. But Jennifer died twelve years ago . . . Once out of the hospital, Bentz begins to see Jennifer everywhere, haunting and taunting him then vanishing without a trace. Could she still be alive? But it was Bentz who identified her body after the horrible car wreck. He's never doubted it until now. When a copy of Jennifer's death certificate arrives emblazoned with a red question mark Bentz follows the postmark trail to Los Angeles, straight into a killer's web. Each new discovery only serves as a chilling reminder of how little he really knew about his first wife. Then the murders begin, each victim a part of Jennifer's past, each grisly corpse pointing to Bentz as the prime suspect. A diabolical killer has been waiting patiently, silently. Soon it will be Bentz's turn to suffer for his sins. But he won't be the only one: now his new wife is the killer's prime target. Lisa Jackson is the number-one New York Times bestselling author of Shiver, Fatal Burn and Twice Kissed. There are more than ten million copies of her books in print. She lives with her family and an eighty-pound dog in the Pacific Northwest. Readers can visit her website at www.lisajackson.com.

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