TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of November 8, 2009

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2
NEW
THE SCARPETTA FACTOR
Patricia Cornwell
Cover of THE SCARPETTA FACTOR

THE SCARPETTA FACTOR

by Patricia Cornwell · Putnam

1 wks on list

Kay Scarpetta offers her services pro bono to the New York City medical examiner's office, in addition to her duties as CNN's senior forensic analyst, which seems to trigger a series of unsettling events, including an apparent death threat.

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1
PURSUIT OF HONOR
Vince Flynn
6
5
HEAT WAVE
Richard Castle
Cover of HEAT WAVE

HEAT WAVE

by Richard Castle · Hyperion

2 wks on list

The New York Times bestseller, HEAT WAVE, is a tie-in to the ABC primetime show, CASTLE, that premiered in March 2009. The main character of the show, Richard Castle, is a bestselling mystery writer. HEAT WAVE is his newest book: Mystery sensation Richard Castle, blockbuster author of the wildly best-selling Derrick Storm novels, introduces his newest character, NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat. Tough, sexy, professional, Nikki Heat carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City's top homicide squads. She's hit with an unexpected challenge when the commissioner assigns superstar magazine journalist Jameson Rook to ride along with her to research an article on New York's Finest. Pulitzer Prize-winning Rook is as much a handful as he is handsome. His wise-cracking and meddling aren't her only problems. As she works to unravel the secrets of the murdered real estate tycoon, she must also confront the spark between them.

8
NEW
SOUTHERN LIGHTS
Danielle Steel
Cover of SOUTHERN LIGHTS

SOUTHERN LIGHTS

by Danielle Steel · Delacorte Press

1 wks on list

Assistant D.A. Alexa Hamilton has just been handed the kind of case that makes careers: the trial of accused serial killer Luke Quentin. Sifting through mountains of forensic evidence, Alexa relentlessly builds her case and prepares for a high-stakes trial . . . until threatening letters throw her private life into turmoil. The letters are addressed to Alexa's beautiful 17-year-old daughter, Savannah, who Alexa has raised alone since her painful divorce years before. Alexa is certain that Quentin is behind the letters - and that they are too dangerous to ignore. Suddenly Alexa must make the toughest choice of all - and send her daughter back to the very place that Alexa swore she would never return: to her ex-husband's world of southern tradition, long memories, and the antebellum charm of Charleston. While Alexa's trial builds to a climax in New York, her daughter is settling into southern life, discovering a part of her family history she's never known. As a family's wounds are exposed and the healing begins, Alexa and Savannah, after a season in different worlds, will come together again - strengthened by the trials they have faced, changed by the mysteries they have unraveled, armed with miracles that are uniquely their own.

11
NEW
BLOOD GAME
Iris Johansen
Cover of BLOOD GAME

BLOOD GAME

by Iris Johansen · St. Martin’s Press

1 wks on list

First comes darkness, then comes fear Eve Duncan is back! Blockbuster New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen's thrilling Blood Game brings Eve closer to discovering her daughter's killer...and into a web of danger from which she may not be able to escape... Eve Duncan returns in a thriller that pits her against the most evil mind she has ever encountered: a ruthless killer who taunts her with his every move...and who has a special affinity for blood. When a Georgia senator's daughter is found murdered, and her body drained of blood, Eve Duncan is drawn into the web of Kevin Jelak—a serial murderer who is on Eve's short list of killers who might know something about her missing daughter Bonnie. When a goblet of blood is found in Eve's refrigerator, she knows the taunting is over...and the games have begun. As Eve and Jelak engage in a dance of death, Eve must call upon those she loves and trusts the most...even if it means bringing them into the game as well.

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A TOUCH OF DEAD
Charlaine Harris
Cover of A TOUCH OF DEAD

A TOUCH OF DEAD

by Charlaine Harris · Ace

3 wks on list

A collection of every short story featuring Sookie Stackhouse, the telepathic waitress heroine of the best-selling Southern Vampire novels, includes “Fairy Dust,” “One Word Answer,” and “Dracula Night.”

13
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TO TRY MEN'S SOULS
Newt Gingrich, William R. Forstchen and Albert S. Hanser
Cover of TO TRY MEN'S SOULS

TO TRY MEN'S SOULS

by Newt Gingrich, William R. Forstchen and Albert S. Hanser · Thomas Dunne/St. Martin’s

1 wks on list

This biographical novel exploring America's Revolutionary Era is "surely to become another popular book" for the New York Times–bestselling authors. The story follows three men with three very different roles to play in history: General George Washington, Thomas Paine, and Jonathan Van Dorn, a private in Washington's army. The action focuses on one of the most iconic events in American history: Washington crossing the Delaware. Unlike the bold, courageous General in Emanuel Leutze's painting, Washington is full of doubt on the night of December 25, 1776. After five months of defeat, morale is dangerously low. Each morning muster shows that hundreds have deserted in the night. While Washington prepares his weary troops for the attack on Trenton, Thomas Paine is in Philadelphia, overseeing the printing of his newest pamphlet, The Crisis. And Jonathan Van Dorn is about to bring the war to his own doorstep. In the heat of battle, he must decide between staying loyal to the cause and sparing his brother who has joined up with the British. Through the thoughts and private fears of these three men, Gingrich and Forstchen illuminate the darkest days of the Revolution. With detailed research and an incredible depth of military insight, To Try Men's Souls is a novel that provides a rare and personal perspective of the men who fought for, and founded the United States of America.

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5
AN ECHO IN THE BONE
Diana Gabaldon
Cover of AN ECHO IN THE BONE

AN ECHO IN THE BONE

by Diana Gabaldon · Delacorte Press

5 wks on list

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The seventh book in Diana Gabaldon’s acclaimed Outlander saga, the basis for the Starz original series. “All you’ve come to expect from Gabaldon . . . adventure, history, romance, fantasy.”—The Arizona Republic Jamie Fraser, former Jacobite and reluctant rebel, is already certain of three things about the American rebellion: The Americans will win, fighting on the side of victory is no guarantee of survival, and he’d rather die than have to face his illegitimate son—a young lieutenant in the British army—across the barrel of a gun. Claire Randall knows that the Americans will win, too, but not what the ultimate price may be. That price won’t include Jamie’s life or his happiness, though—not if she has anything to say about it. Meanwhile, in the relative safety of the twentieth century, Jamie and Claire’s daughter, Brianna, and her husband, Roger MacKenzie, have resettled in a historic Scottish home where, across a chasm of two centuries, the unfolding drama of Brianna’s parents’ story comes to life through Claire’s letters. The fragile pages reveal Claire’s love for battle-scarred Jamie Fraser and their flight from North Carolina to the high seas, where they encounter privateers and ocean battles—as Brianna and Roger search for clues not only to Claire’s fate but to their own. Because the future of the MacKenzie family in the Highlands is mysteriously, irrevocably, and intimately entwined with life and death in war-torn colonial America.

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