TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of September 20, 2009

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1
NEW
DARK SLAYER
Christine Feehan
Cover of DARK SLAYER

DARK SLAYER

by Christine Feehan · Berkley

1 wks at #1 · 1 on list

After a century of longing, the instinct for survival unites a betrayed woman and a cursed man in this seductive Carpathian novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan. Ivory Malinov’s only brethren are the wolves. Abandoned by her family, and cast out by everyone she held dear, Ivory has lived centuries without love. She has sustained her sanity by preparing for one purpose—to destroy her greatest enemy. Then she picks up the scent of a man. Her salvation. Her lifemate. The curse of all Carpathian women. Branded a criminal, Razvan is a dragonseeker borne of a great Carpathian lineage, only to be raised as its most despised captive enemy. Escaping from imprisonment, Razvan now seeks the dawn to end his terrible existence. Instead he has found his deliverance in Ivory, the Dark Slayer. In spirit, in flesh and blood, in love, and in war, Ivory and Razvan are made for each other. For as long as they dare to live.

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SOUTH OF BROAD
Pat Conroy
Cover of SOUTH OF BROAD

SOUTH OF BROAD

by Pat Conroy · Nan A. Talese/Doubleday

4 wks on list

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A big sweeping novel of friendship and marriage” (The Washington Post) by the celebrated author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini Leopold Bloom King has been raised in a family shattered—and shadowed—by tragedy. Lonely and adrift, he searches for something to sustain him and finds it among a tightly knit group of outsiders. Surviving marriages happy and troubled, unrequited loves and unspoken longings, hard-won successes and devastating breakdowns, as well as Charleston, South Carolina’s dark legacy of racism and class divisions, these friends will endure until a final test forces them to face something none of them are prepared for. Spanning two turbulent decades, South of Broad is Pat Conroy at his finest: a masterpiece from a great American writer whose passion for life and language knows no bounds. Praise for South of Broad “Vintage Pat Conroy . . . a big sweeping novel of friendship and marriage.”—The Washington Post “Conroy remains a magician of the page.”—The New York Times Book Review “Richly imagined . . . These characters are gallant in the grand old-fashioned sense, devoted to one another and to home. That siren song of place has never sounded so sweet.”—New Orleans Times-Picayune “A lavish, no-holds-barred performance.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution “A lovely, often thrilling story.”—The Dallas Morning News “A pleasure to read . . . a must for Conroy’s fans.”—Associated Press

4
NEW
SPARTAN GOLD
Clive Cussler with Grant Blackwood
Cover of SPARTAN GOLD

SPARTAN GOLD

by Clive Cussler with Grant Blackwood · Putnam

1 wks on list

After discovering a U-boat in a Delaware swamp containing a map to Napoleon's "lost cellar," the Fargo brothers race to find the treasure before a rival collector can, in this new-series debut from the best-selling author.

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THE WHITE QUEEN
Philippa Gregory
Cover of THE WHITE QUEEN

THE WHITE QUEEN

by Philippa Gregory · Touchstone/Simon & Schuster

3 wks on list

THE FIRST IN A STUNNING SERIES, THE COUSINS' WAR, FROM INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR PHILIPPA GREGORY Set amid the tumult and intrigue of The War of the Roses, Philippa Gregory tells the story of one woman's ambitious ascent to royalty during the unsolved mystery around her sons' imprisonment in the Tower in a captivating family drama. Elizabeth Woodville is a common woman who ascends to royalty by virtue of her beauty. A woman who rises to the demands of her position and fights tenaciously for the success of her family. A woman whose two sons become the central figures in a mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the Princes in the Tower. Their fate remains unknown to this day. From her uniquely qualified perspective, Philippa Gregory explores the most famous unsolved mystery, informed by impeccable research and framed by her inimitable storytelling skills. Praise for Philippa Gregory: ‘Meticulously researched and deeply entertaining, this story of betrayal and divided loyalties is Gregory on top form’ Good Housekeeping ‘Gregory has popularised Tudor history perhaps more than any other living fiction writer…all of her books feature strong, complex women, doing their best to improve their lives in worlds dominated by men’ Sunday Times ‘Engrossing’ Sunday Express ‘Popular historical fiction at its finest, immaculately researched and superbly told’ The Times 'Queen of the historical novel' Mail on Sunday

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HOMER & LANGLEY
E. L. Doctorow
Cover of HOMER & LANGLEY

HOMER & LANGLEY

by E. L. Doctorow · Random House

2 wks on list

“Beautiful and haunting . . . one of literature’s most unlikely picaresques, a road novel in which the rogue heroes can’t seem to leave home.”—The Boston Globe SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY San Francisco Chronicle • Chicago Tribune • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • The Kansas City Star • Booklist Homer and Langley Collyer are brothers—the one blind and deeply intuitive, the other damaged into madness, or perhaps greatness, by mustard gas in the Great War. They live as recluses in their once grand Fifth Avenue mansion, scavenging the city streets for things they think they can use, hoarding the daily newspapers as research for Langley’s proposed dateless newspaper whose reportage will be as prophecy. Yet the epic events of the century play out in the lives of the two brothers—wars, political movements, technological advances—and even though they want nothing more than to shut out the world, history seems to pass through their cluttered house in the persons of immigrants, prostitutes, society women, government agents, gangsters, jazz musicians . . . and their housebound lives are fraught with odyssean peril as they struggle to survive and create meaning for themselves. Praise for Homer & Langley “Masterly.”—The New York Times Book Review “Doctorow paints on a sweeping historical canvas, imagining the Collyer brothers as witness to the aspirations and transgressions of 20th century America; yet this book’s most powerfully moving moments are the quiet ones, when the brothers relish a breath of cool morning air, and each other’s tragically exclusive company.”— O: The Oprah Magazine “A stately, beautiful performance with great resonance . . . What makes this novel so striking is that it joins both blindness and insight, the sensual world and the world of the mind, to tell a story about the unfolding of modern American life that we have never heard in exactly this (austere and lovely) way before.”—San Francisco Chronicle “Wondrous . . . inspired . . . darkly visionary and surprisingly funny.” —The New York Review of Books “Cunningly panoramic . . . Doctorow has packed this tale with episodes of existential wonder that cpature the brothers in all their fascinating wackiness.”—Elle

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206 BONES
Kathy Reichs
Cover of 206 BONES

206 BONES

by Kathy Reichs · Scribner

A gripping Temperance Brennan novel from world-class forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs, the international no.1 bestselling crime thriller writer and the inspiration behind the hit TV series Bones. When Dr Temperance Brennan is accused of mishandling the autopsy of a missing heiress, a routine case swiftly turns sinister. But before Tempe can get to the one man with the information she needs, he turns up dead. In Montreal, three elderly women are found murdered, their bodies brutally discarded. Even though the clues don't add up, Tempe is certain of a link between their deaths and that of the heiress. Has Tempe made grave errors, or is she being sabotaged by an unseen enemy? What is frighteningly clear is that more than just Tempe's career is at stake. Her life is also at risk. ___________________________________ Dr Kathy Reichs is a professional forensic anthropologist. She has worked for decades with chief medical examiners, the FBI, and even a United Nations Tribunal on Genocide. However, she is best known for her internationally bestselling Temperance Brennan novels, which draw on her remarkable experience to create the most vividly authentic, true-to-life crime thrillers on the market and which are the inspiration for the hit TV series Bones. ___________________________________ Many of the world's greatest thriller writers are huge fans of her work: 'Kathy Reichs writes smart - no, make that brilliant - mysteries that are as realistic as nonfiction and as fast-paced as the best thrillers about Jack Reacher, or Alex Cross' JAMES PATTERSON 'One of my favourite writers' KARIN SLAUGHTER 'I love Kathy Reichs - always scary, always suspenseful, and I always learn something!!' LEE CHILD 'Nobody does forensics thrillers like Kathy Reichs. She is the real deal' DAVID BALDACCI 'Nobody writes a more imaginative thriller than Kathy Reichs' CLIVE CUSSLER

10
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A GATE AT THE STAIRS
Lorrie Moore
Cover of A GATE AT THE STAIRS

A GATE AT THE STAIRS

by Lorrie Moore · Knopf

1 wks on list

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From “one of the most acute and lasting writers of her generation” (The New York Times) comes a piercing novel of race, class, love, and war in America. Twenty-year-old Tassie Keltjin, the daughter of a gentleman farmer, has come to a university town as a student. When she takes a job as a part-time nanny for a mysterious and glamorous family, she finds herself drawn deeper into their world and forever changed. “An indelible portrait of a young woman coming of age in the Midwest in the year after 9/11…. Moore has written her most powerful book yet.” —The New York Times

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THE ELEVENTH VICTIM
Nancy Grace
Cover of THE ELEVENTH VICTIM

THE ELEVENTH VICTIM

by Nancy Grace · Hyperion

4 wks on list

The controversial prosecutor best known for her top-rated CNN show draws from her own life in a fictional tale in which successful attorney Hailey embarks on a new home and career after the murder of her fiancé and becomes increasing terror-stricken when her clients are attacked by a killer whose methods mimic those of Hailey's last case. (Suspense).

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DEAD AND GONE
Charlaine Harris
Cover of DEAD AND GONE

DEAD AND GONE

by Charlaine Harris · Ace

18 wks on list

Now it's the turn of the weres and shifters to follow the lead of the undead and reveal their existence to the ordinary world. Sookie Stackhouse already knows about them, of course - her brother turns into a panther at the full moon, she's friend to the local Were pack and Sam, her boss at Merlotte's bar, is a shifter. At first the great Were revelation seems to go well - then the horribly mutilated body of a were-panther is found outside Merlotte's. Though Sookie never cared that much for the victim, no one deserves such a horrible death, so she agrees to use her telepathic talent to track down the murderer. But what Sookie doesn't realise is that there is a far greater danger than this killer threatening Bon Temps: a race of unhuman beings, older, more powerful and far more secretive than the vampires or the werewolves is preparing for war ...

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THAT OLD CAPE MAGIC
Richard Russo
Cover of THAT OLD CAPE MAGIC
15
NEW
SMASH CUT
Sandra Brown
Cover of SMASH CUT

SMASH CUT

by Sandra Brown · Simon & Schuster

The themes of role reversal and the abuse of power figure prominently in a tale in which corruption and betrayals turn friends against one another and force criminals to become heroes.

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