TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of August 31, 1997

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COLD MOUNTAIN
Charles Frazier
Cover of COLD MOUNTAIN

COLD MOUNTAIN

by Charles Frazier · Atlantic Monthly Press

18 wks at #1 · 8 on list

The impact of the Civil War on lovers. Inman is not the man he used to be, as wounded in battle he slowly makes his way home to North Carolina. His sweetheart, Ada, too has changed, no longer a flighty belle but a hard-working farm woman. Will love be the same?

3
SPECIAL DELIVERY
Danielle Steel
Cover of SPECIAL DELIVERY

SPECIAL DELIVERY

by Danielle Steel · Delacorte Press

8 wks on list

The playboy owner of a successful Beverly Hills boutique, Jack Watson is unexpectedly drawn to Amanda Robbins, the widowed mother of his grown son's wife, in a story of two mismatched, middle-aged people who find happiness and romance despite the confusion, obstacles, and opposition around them.

4
PLUM ISLAND
Nelson DeMille
Cover of PLUM ISLAND

PLUM ISLAND

by Nelson DeMille · Warner

13 wks on list

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER CELEBRATING THE 20th ANNIVERSARY WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY THE AUTHOR Wounded in the line of duty, NYPD homicide detective John Corey convalesces in the Long Island township of Southold, home to farmers, fishermen -- and at least one killer. Tom and Judy Gordon, a young, attractive couple Corey knows, have been found on their patio, each with a bullet in the head. The local police chief, Sylvester Maxwell, wants Corey's big-city expertise, but Maxwell gets more than he bargained for. John Corey doesn't like mysteries, which is why he likes to solve them. His investigations lead him into the lore, legends, and ancient secrets of northern Long Island -- more deadly and more dangerous than he could ever have imagined. During his journey of discovery, he meets two remarkable women, Detective Beth Penrose and Mayflower descendant Emma Whitestone, both of whom change his life irrevocably. Ultimately, through his understanding of the murders, John Corey comes to understand himself. Fast-paced and atmospheric, marked by entrancing characters, incandescent storytelling, and brilliant comic touches, Plum Island is Nelson DeMille at his thrill-inducing best.

7
THE PARTNER
John Grisham
Cover of THE PARTNER

THE PARTNER

by John Grisham · Doubleday

25 wks on list

Large Print Edition of a John Grisham Suspense Thriller.

8
2
THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS
Arundhati Roy
Cover of THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS

THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS

by Arundhati Roy · Random House

3 wks on list

The story of an Indian family during the 1969 Communist disturbances in Kerala province. It is told through the eyes of a boy and his sister who are the children of a rich rubber planter. Politics, family drama, illicit love. A debut in fiction.

9
1
LONDON
Edward Rutherfurd
Cover of LONDON

LONDON

by Edward Rutherfurd · Crown

13 wks on list
10
1
UP ISLAND
Anne Rivers Siddons
Cover of UP ISLAND

UP ISLAND

by Anne Rivers Siddons · HarperCollins

12 wks on list

When her husband drops her for a younger woman, Molly Redwine of Atlanta - mother of two adult children and a woman accustomed to comfort - thinks it is the end of the world. But as she recuperates in Martha's Vineyard, Molly discovers other reasons for living - lots of people need her - and gradually she regains her confidence and happiness.

11
FAT TUESDAY
Sandra Brown
Cover of FAT TUESDAY

FAT TUESDAY

by Sandra Brown · Warner

10 wks on list
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SERPENT'S TOOTH
Faye Kellerman
Cover of SERPENT'S TOOTH

SERPENT'S TOOTH

by Faye Kellerman · Morrow

1 wks on list

A busy night in a fashionable restaurant. Minutes later, carnage. 13 people dead and dozens wounded. As Lieutenant Decker, in charge of the police on the scene says, it's your worst nightmare. But at least the culprit seems clear - an embittered ex-employee, Harlan Manz, who ambled up to the bar and opened fire, finally turning the gun on himself. But why did Manz do it? Deck finds that things don't quite add up. Then he questions Jeanine Garrison, daughter of millionaire parents killed in the outrage, and find himself slapped with a sexual harassment suit. Now Decker knows she's involved, and after her brother, who shared the inheritance, is found dead he's sure. But he's not allowed near the woman. Meantime, he can feel her slipping through his fingers and getting away, quite literally, with murder.

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CHASING CEZANNE
Peter Mayle
Cover of CHASING CEZANNE

CHASING CEZANNE

by Peter Mayle · Knopf

10 wks on list

Hanky-panky on the international art scene is the source of the hilarity and fizz in Peter Mayle's new novel. He flies us back to the south of France (a region some readers of his irresistible best-sellers believe him to have invented), on a wild chase through galleries, homes of prominent collectors, and wickedly delectable restaurants. There are stopovers in the Bahamas and England, and in New York, where that glossiest of magazines, Decorating Quarterly, reflects the cutting-edge trendiness of its editor, Camilla Jameson Porter. (Camilla has recently broken new ground in the world of power lunches by booking two tables on the same day, and shuttling between them, at the city's trendiest restaurant.) It is Camilla who has sent our hero, Andre Kelly, to Cap Ferrat to take glamorous photo-graphs of the houses and treasures of the rich, famous, and fatuous. He happens to have his camera at the ready when he spots a Cézanne being loaded onto a plumber's truck near the home of an absent collector. Odd, thinks Andre. And in no time he's on the trail of a state-of-the-art art scam, chasing Cézanne. It's a joy to follow him and the crowds intent on speeding or foiling his quest--including a beautiful agent; a super-savvy art dealer attracted to the finer things in life, especially if they promise the payoff of a lifetime; an awesome Dutch forger; some outstandingly greedy New York sophisticates; and, invisible in the background, the parade of remarkable chefs whose mouthwatering culinary masterpieces periodically soothe the hero and tantalize the reader of Chasing Cézanne.

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NEW
APACHES
Lorenzo Carcaterra
Cover of APACHES

APACHES

by Lorenzo Carcaterra · Ballantine

1 wks on list

Remember these names: Boomer. Dead-Eye. Pins. Geronimo. Reverend Jim. Mrs. Columbo. They were great cops. The best cops. But they are cops no more. Now they are Apaches - a renegade unit working on their own. It is the early 1980s. Crack cocaine has made its devastating appearance. Violence is escalating and so is an unnerving lack of morality. Things are happening that have never happened before. One of those things is the brutal kidnapping of an innocent 12-year-old girl. But the kidnapper has made a deadly mistake. He has brought Boomer Frontieri back to life, back to the streets. And back into action. A New York City detective forced to retire after being wounded in a drug bust, Boomer thirsts to return to the life he loved - the life of a cop. When an old friend turns to him for help, Boomer has the excuse he needs. And when the simple kidnapping turns into something more, something much more evil, even more horrifying, Boomer realizes that he can once again find a way to serve justice.

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