TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of June 7, 1998

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''N'' IS FOR NOOSE
Sue Grafton
Cover of ''N'' IS FOR NOOSE

''N'' IS FOR NOOSE

by Sue Grafton · Wood/Holt

5 wks on list

"SMART AND SASSY" (New York Times) P.I. Kinsey Millhone is at it again in "N" is for Noose—another thrilling adventure from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton Kinsey Millhone should have done something else--she should have turned the car in the direction of home. Instead, she was about to put herself in the gravest jeopardy of her career. Tom Newquist had been a detective in the Nota Lake sheriff's office--a tough, honest cop respected by everyone. When he died suddenly, the townsfolk were saddened but not surprised: Just shy of sixty-five, Newquist worked too hard, smoked too much, and exercised too little. That plus an appetite for junk food made him a poster boy for an American Heart Association campaign. Newquist's widow didn't doubt the coroner's report. But what Selma couldn't accept was not knowing what had so bothered Tom in the last six weeks of his life. What was it that had made him prowl restlessly at night, that had him brooding constantly? Selma Newquist wanted closure, and the only way she'd get it was if she found out what it was that had so bedeviled her husband. Kinsey should have dumped the case. It was vague and hopeless, like looking for a needle in a haystack. Instead, she set up shop in Nota Lake, where she found that looking for a needle in a haystack can draw blood. Very likely, her own."N" Is for Noose: a novel in which Kinsey Millhone becomes the target and an entire town seems in for the kill. "A" Is for Alibi "B" Is for Burglar "C" Is for Corpse "D" Is for Deadbeat "E" Is for Evidence "F" Is for Fugitive "G" Is for Gumshoe "H" Is for Homicide "I" Is for Innocent "J" Is for Judgment "K" Is for Killer "L" is for Lawless "M" Is for Malice "N" Is for Noose "O" Is for Outlaw "P" Is for Peril "Q" Is for Quarry "R" Is for Ricochet "S" Is for Silence "T" Is for Trespass "U" Is for Undertow "V" Is for Vengeance "W" Is for Wasted "X"

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BLACK AND BLUE
Anna Quindlen
Cover of BLACK AND BLUE

BLACK AND BLUE

by Anna Quindlen · Random House

17 wks on list

An ultimately uplifting tale, full of drama and the details of a personal crisis. Oprah Book Club Choice and international bestseller. ‘The first time my husband hit me, I was nineteen years old’ For eighteen years, Fran Benedetto kept her secret. And hit her bruises. And stayed with Bobby because she wanted her son to have a father. And because, in spite of everything, she loved him. Then one night, when she sae the look on her ten-year-old son’s face, Fran finally made a choice – and ran for both their lives. Now she is starting over in a city far from home, far from Bobby. But every day she waits fro him to catch up with her. Because Bobby always said he would never let her go. And despite the flawlessness of her escape, Fran Benedetto is certain of one thing – it’s only a matter of time. ‘The honesty of her storytelling is exemplary’ - Sunday Times ‘Relationships and family life are captured in a beautiful, intelligent way’ - Good Housekeeping

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SECRET PREY
John Sandford
Cover of SECRET PREY

SECRET PREY

by John Sandford · Putnam

2 wks on list

A brilliant but insane pathologist flees to New York to continue his research on death, and the police call on Lucas Davenport, who merges his investigative talents with an old flame to put an end to the madness. 100,000 first printing.

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MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
Nicholas Sparks
Cover of MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

by Nicholas Sparks · Warner

7 wks on list

In a moment of desolation on a windswept beach, Garrett bottles his words of undying love for a lost woman, and throws them to the sea. My dearest Catherine, I miss you my darling, as I always do, but today is particularly hard because the ocean has been singing to me, and the song is that of our life together . . . But the bottle is picked up by Theresa, a mother with a shattered past, who feels unaccountably drawn to this lonely man. Who are this couple? What is their story? Beginning a search that will take her to a sunlit coastal town and an unexpected confrontation, it is a tale that resonates with everlasting love and the enduring promise of redemption.

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THE STREET LAWYER
John Grisham
Cover of THE STREET LAWYER

THE STREET LAWYER

by John Grisham · Doubleday

16 wks on list

A corporate lawyer in Washington goes to war against his own company to defend the homeless. It happens after Michael Brock is abducted by a homeless man and held hostage. The homeless man is killed by a police sharpshooter and the lawyer is rescued, but the experience changes his life. Michael was in a hurry. He was scrambling up the ladder at Drake & Sweeney, a giant D.C. law firm with eight hundred lawyers. The money was good and getting better; a partnership was three years away. He was a rising star with no time to waste, no time to stop, no time to toss a few coins into the cups of panhandlers. No time for a conscience. But a violent encounter with a homeless man stopped him cold. Michael survived; his assailant did not. Who was this man? Michael did some digging, and learned that he was a mentally ill veteran who'd been in and out of shelters for many years. Then Michael dug a little deeper, and found a dirty secret, and the secret involved Drake & Sweeney. The fast track derailed; the ladder collapsed. Michael bolted the firm and took a top-secret file with him. He landed in the streets, an advocate for the homeless, a street lawyer.

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OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!
Dr. Seuss
Cover of OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

by Dr. Seuss · Random House

162 wks on list

An interactive board book adaptation of the Dr. Seuss classic—featuring 12 different sounds! Perfect for celebrating little ones' milestone moments, from first steps to preschool graduation! Introduce little ones to the world of Dr. Seuss with this super simple interactive adaptation of Oh, the Places You'll Go! that's just right for babies and toddlers. From the sound of clomping shoes and trumpeting elephants to howling Hacken-Kraks and cheering crowds, the twelve sounds featured in the story bring to life the Great Places a child's feet will carry them! This book includes colorful sound buttons, a handy on/off switch, and batteries that can be easily replaced.

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COLD MOUNTAIN
Charles Frazier
Cover of COLD MOUNTAIN

COLD MOUNTAIN

by Charles Frazier · Atlantic Monthly Press

48 wks 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?

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SUMMER SISTERS
Judy Blume
Cover of SUMMER SISTERS

SUMMER SISTERS

by Judy Blume · Delacorte Press

1 wks on list

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY • “Summer Sisters is a book to return to again and again.”—Colleen Hoover “As warm as a summer breeze blowing through your hair, as nostalgic as James Taylor singing ‘How Sweet It Is.’ You remember. So does Judy Blume. How sweet it was.”—Chicago Tribune In the summer of 1977, Victoria Leonard’s world changes forever when Caitlin Somers chooses her as a friend. Dazzling, reckless Caitlin welcomes Vix into the heart of her sprawling, eccentric family, opening doors to a world of unimaginable privilege, sweeping her away to vacations on Martha’s Vineyard, an enchanting place where the two friends become “summer sisters.” Now, years later, Vix is working in New York City. Caitlin is getting married on the Vineyard. And the early magic of their long, complicated friendship has faded. But Caitlin begs Vix to come to her wedding, to be her maid of honor. And Vix knows that she will go—because she wants to understand what happened during that last shattering summer. And, after all these years, she needs to know why her best friend—her summer sister—still has the power to break her heart.

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MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
Arthur Golden
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DAMASCUS GATE
Robert Stone
Cover of DAMASCUS GATE

DAMASCUS GATE

by Robert Stone · Houghton Mifflin

4 wks on list

‘At once religious discussion, love story, mystery, delivered with the verve of an airport thriller . . . The central character of this book is Jerusalem; the book reeks of its myriad mythologies and beliefs . . . Damascus Gate is an amazing read . . . a rare and remarkable feast of writing’ Scotland on Sunday ‘The heir of Conrad, Hemingway and, crucially, Graham Greene, Stone is at his best when his characters are in extremis . . . the scenes of violent confrontation could not have been rendered more powerfully by any other writer . . . formidable’ Sunday Telegraph ‘A book that is not afraid to take on the big themes like faith, faction, spirituality, tribalism, identity and injustice . . . It is also an extraordinary treatment of Jerusalem itself . . . With Stone, it has found the kind of imaginative interpreter that every city waits for’ Sunday Times ‘Writing this good should be engraved on tablets of stone in letters of fire and blood. Fantastic’ Uncut ‘Stone has a journalist’s eye for detail, but a novelist’s eye for irony . . . Damascus Gate is rich with theme and atmosphere . . . few writers could even attempt to capture, as Stone does, both the intense, combative spirituality of Jerusalem and the festering menace of Gaza’ Esquire

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