TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of April 5, 2026

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
Jump to
1
JUDGE STONE
Viola Davis and James Patterson
Cover of JUDGE STONE

JUDGE STONE

by Viola Davis and James Patterson · Little, Brown and JVL

2 wks at #1 · 2 on list

An extraordinary new courtroom drama from Sunday Times bestselling thriller author James Patterson and Academy Award winner Viola Davis. Get ready to meet the most unforgettable character in years. All rise...for Judge Stone. The most respected citizen in Union Springs, Alabama (population 3,314), is Judge Mary Stone. She holds two responsibilities sacred: running her family farm and presiding over her courtroom. Everything changes when she draws the most controversial case in the history of the South. Criminally, it’s open-and-shut. Ethically, there is no middle ground. Essentially, it’s a choice between life and death. No judge can satisfy everyone. It would be dangerous to try. But Judge Stone is willing to fight to bring justice to the people and place she loves. An explosive legal thriller that will keep you turning the pages until the stunning conclusion. ------------------------------------------- 'A stunning, powerful and incendiary courtroom thriller. Impossible to put down' - CHRIS WHITAKER 'Gripping, tense, heart-wrenching, timely and so, so important. I read it in one sitting. This is a story that everyone will be talking about in 2026.' - RUTH MANCINI

3
NEW
BLOODLUST
Sandra Brown
Cover of BLOODLUST

BLOODLUST

by Sandra Brown · Grand Central

1 wks on list

#1 New York Times bestselling author Sandra Brown delivers a new signature sexy suspense about a detective seeking justice for his murdered wife with the help of a psychotherapist … while fighting an undeniable attraction to her. Two years ago, Detective Mitch Haskell lost his wife to a vicious act of retribution, and has since attributed her murder to two men: Roland Malone and the unidentified mastermind of the crime known only as Oz. Malone, a ruthless executioner and drug dealer who fronts as a restaurant owner, neutralizes so cleanly that he doesn’t leave a trace. And he performs his handiwork at the biddings of Oz, the faceless kingpin of a drug trafficking operation whose name alone evokes terror. Obsessively vowing to avenge his late wife’s murder, Mitch has been on a downward spiral, jeopardizing his closest relationships and drinking excessively to numb his pain. After going one step too far, Detective John Bowie, his former best friend and now his boss, has forced Mitch to get therapy to sort himself out. Dr. Dylan Reede is immediately empathetic to the pain she senses beneath Mitch’s cavalier attitude and wisecracking. She’s determined to make the most of his mandated sessions. But from the moment Mitch breezes into her office, Dylan finds it a struggle to maintain the professional and personal boundaries that keep her own tragic past at a safe distance. As Mitch begins to close in on Oz and Malone’s operation, they’re prepared to stop him by any means necessary. And when it’s revealed that Dylan might hold the key to bringing them to justice, Mitch and Dylan’s irresistible attraction to each other may not only compromise both of them professionally, but place them in Oz’s bullseye.

4
4
MY HUSBAND'S WIFE
Alice Feeney
Cover of MY HUSBAND'S WIFE

MY HUSBAND'S WIFE

by Alice Feeney · Pine & Cedar

8 wks on list

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Discover the brand new #1 bestselling book everyone is talking about from the author of His & Hers, now a #1 Netflix show! “Nonstop thrills! The best Feeney book yet!” —FREIDA MCFADDEN “Propulsive, compulsive, addictive.” —LISA JEWELL "I loved My Husband's Wife."—CHRIS WHITAKER "A funny, sexy, thoroughly satisfying read.” —Washington Post Eden Fox, an artist on the brink of her big break, sets off for a run before her first exhibition. When she returns to the home she recently moved into, Spyglass, an enchanting old house in Hope Falls, nothing is as it should be. Her key doesn’t fit. A woman, eerily similar to her, answers the door. And her husband insists that the stranger is his wife. One house. One husband. Two women. Someone is lying. Six months earlier, a reclusive Londoner called Birdy, reeling from a life-changing diagnosis, inherits Spyglass. This unexpected gift from a long-lost grandmother brings her to the pretty seaside village of Hope Falls. But then Birdy stumbles upon a shadowy London clinic that claims to be able to predict a person's date of death, including her own. Secrets start to unravel, and as the line between truth and lies blurs, Birdy feels compelled to right some old wrongs. My Husband’s Wife is a tangled web of deception, obsession, and mystery that will keep you guessing until the last page. Prepare yourself for the ultimate mind-bending marriage thriller and step inside Spyglass – if you dare – to experience a story where nothing is as it seems.

5
NEW
INNAMORATA
Ava Reid
Cover of INNAMORATA

INNAMORATA

by Ava Reid · Del Rey

1 wks on list

A visionary and atmospheric gothic fantasy about necromancy, vengeance, and soul-consuming love, the first in a duology from the Sunday Times bestselling author of A Study in Drowning and Lady Macbeth. 'A gorgeously gruesome Gothic romance.' Jacqueline Carey 'Reid is a singular, extraordinary talent.' Sasha Peyton Smith 'A powerful and essential voice.' Samantha Shannon ________________________________________________ Once there was an island where the dead walked the earth, and seven noble houses ruled by the arcane secrets of necromancy. A conqueror's blade brought them low, burning their libraries, killing their lords, and extinguishing their eldritch magic. But defiant against the new order stands the House of Teeth and its last living members: beautiful Marozia, the heiress to the House, and her cousin, the uncanny Lady Agnes. Though she has not spoken a word in seven years, Agnes is the true carrier of the House's legacy. And she has her orders. She must recapture the secrets of death magic and avenge her family's fallen honour. She must arrange the betrothal of her beloved cousin Marozia to Liuprand, heir to the conqueror's throne, for access to the forbidden library in his grotesquely grand castle. Revenge burns in Agnes's heart, but so do stranger passions - and it is Liuprand, the golden prince, who speaks to her soul. This passion is as treasonous as it is powerful, poisoning the kingdom's roots and threatening to tear the already shattered realm in two. For Agnes's final order is the gravest: She must not fall in love. Book One of The House of Teeth Duology

6
1
CARL'S DOOMSDAY SCENARIO
Matt Dinniman
Cover of CARL'S DOOMSDAY SCENARIO

CARL'S DOOMSDAY SCENARIO

by Matt Dinniman · Ace

10 wks on list

¡EL ENTRENAMIENTO HA TERMINADO! Bienvenidos, mazmorreros, al volumen 2 de la saga más adictiva y meteórica: de autoeditado a superventas con más de 3 millones de lectores. Un nuevo piso con nuevos desafíos. Y Carl sigue sin pantalones. Empieza la nueva temporada del concurso más visto de la galaxia: Planeta mazmorrero. En el tercer piso, Carl y la Princesa Dónut deberán esforzarse más que nunca. Ya han demostrado que un veterano de la Guardia Costera y una integrante de la realeza felina pueden formar un equipo casi imparable. Y aunque tienen una audiencia bestial, los espectadores son insaciables y la mazmorra es cada vez más peligrosa. Tendrán que darlo todo si quieren sobrevivir a esa picadora de carne diseñada para destrozar y luego escupir a los mazmorreros. Un circo de muertos vivientes deambula por las ruinas de la Ciudad Epígea, una próspera metrópolis que fue devastada por una misteriosa desgracia. Mujeres asesinadas caen del cielo. Un antiguo conjuro está a punto de desvelar su aciago propósito. ¿Podrán Carl y la Princesa Dónut resolver el misterio a tiempo? ENGLISH DESCRIPTION NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Join Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess Donut, as they fight fantastical creatures and deadly mobs to make it to the next level and build the kind of fan following the dungeon masters can't ignore in the second book in the smash-hit Dungeon Crawler Carl series--now with bonus material exclusive to this print edition. "Greetings, Crawlers! The training levels have concluded. Now the games may truly begin." The aliens have come, and they've transformed Earth into a multilevel, video game-like dungeon. It's the newest season of the galaxy's most watched game show, Dungeon Crawler World. Now on the third floor, Carl and Donut have to fight harder than ever. They've already proven that a Coast Guard vet and once-and-forever feline royalty are an almost unstoppable team. Their ratings are off the charts. Viewers can't get enough. But the dungeon gets more dangerous each day, and now there's a whole new problem to deal with: Quests. They call it the Over City. A sprawling, once-thriving metropolis devastated by a mysterious calamity. But these streets are far from abandoned. An undead circus trawls the ruins. Murdered women rain from the sky. An ancient spell is finally ready to reveal its dark purpose. Can Carl and Donut solve the mystery in time? And can Carl finally find some pants?

8
4
KIN
Tayari Jones
Cover of KIN

KIN

by Tayari Jones · Knopf

4 wks on list

AN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK A magnificent new novel from the bestselling, award-winning author of An American Marriage—Tayari Jones has written an unforgettable novel that sparkles with wit and intelligence and deep feeling about two lifelong friends whose worlds converge after many years apart in the face of a devastating tragedy. Vernice and Annie, two motherless daughters raised in Honeysuckle, Louisiana, have been best friends and neighbors since earliest childhood, but are fated to live starkly different lives. Raised by a fierce aunt determined to give her a stable home in the wake of her mother’s death, Vernice leaves Honeysuckle at eighteen for Spelman College, where she joins a sisterhood of powerfully connected Black women and marries into an affluent family. Annie, abandoned by her dissolute mother as a child, and fixated on the idea of finding her and filling the bottomless hole left by her absence, sets off on a journey that will take her into a world of peril and adversity, as well as love and adventure, and culminate in a battle for her life. A novel about mothers and daughters, about friendship and sisterhood, and the complexities of being a woman in the American South, Kin is an exuberant, emotionally rich, unforgettable work from one of the brightest and most irresistible voices in contemporary fiction.

10
2
THE DUNGEON ANARCHIST'S COOKBOOK
Matt Dinniman
Cover of THE DUNGEON ANARCHIST'S COOKBOOK

THE DUNGEON ANARCHIST'S COOKBOOK

by Matt Dinniman · Ace

5 wks on list

WELCOME CRAWLERS, TO THE FOURTH FLOOR OF THE DUNGEON - THE IRON TANGLE! The third explosive installment in Matt Dinniman's best selling LitRPG series, where teamwork is optional and betrayal is inevitable... 'If there's a better LitRPG than Dungeon Crawler Carl, I haven't read it' Shirtaloon, author of He Who Fights Monsters -- Carl and Donut have survived so far, but this fourth level is unlike anything they could imagine. The Iron Tangle: an impossibly complicated subway system tied together into a knot of trains of all kinds. The top ten list of most popular crawlers is now confirmed, and Carl and Donut have made it. But that popularity comes with a price . . . They each now have a bounty on their head. Carl and Donut have survived so far, but this fourth level is unlike anything they could imagine. The Iron Tangle: an impossibly complicated subway system tied together into a knot of trains of all kinds. The top ten list of most popular crawlers is now confirmed, and Carl and Donut have made it. But that popularity comes with a price . . . They each now have a bounty on their head. To get through this level, they must solve the puzzle of the floor. The secret to unravelling it all may be hidden in the pages of a seemingly useless book. But if they want to come close to success, they'll have to work with other crawlers. Making friends is easy...until they want to kill you. ---- Praise for Dungeon Crawler Carl 'Fresh. Creative. Hilarious. I'm obsessed...Princess Donut is my queen' Actor, producer and New York Times bestselling author Felicia Day 'I don't always say nice things about a book just because the writer has compromising pictures of me engaging in some very complicated international crimes, but when I do, I say them about Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl! Also, this series has no goddamn business burying so much depth and emotion and complexity under its bawdy, gory surface, but it does so anyway. What a wild-ass and unexpected delight' New York Times bestselling author Scott Lynch '[A] comically cosmic adventure series...often laugh-out-loud funny...Grind your way to dungeon mastery alongside Carl and Princess Donut' The Wall Street Journal 'This is the book for anyone who ever wondered what it would be like to be a role player in a game with the best game master ever. Also for anyone who wants to read a good book. Or maybe anyone who has been outside at night?in their underwear?looking for their cat and wondering 'What's the worst thing that could happen?' Once you start, you won't put it down' Patricia Briggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Mercy Thompson series 'One of the most bananapants, funny, inventive books I have read in a while' Book Riot 'Dungeon Crawler Carl is just one big smile all the way through. Put on your best pair of boxer shorts and sit back for a truly fun and enjoyable read' New York Times bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson

11
1
THE WIDOW
John Grisham
Cover of THE WIDOW

THE WIDOW

by John Grisham · Doubleday

22 wks on list

'A classic, compulsive, taut and thrilling novel from one of the great storytellers of our time. No one does it better' CHRIS WHITAKER SHE NEEDS A LAWYER. HE NEEDS A PAYDAY. Lawyer Simon Latch is struggling with debt, gambling issues and an impending divorce. But when Eleanor Barnett, an 85-year-old widow, visits his office to secure a new will, it seems his luck has finally changed: she claims she's sitting on a $20 million fortune and no one else knows about it. Once he's hooked the richest client of his career, Simon works quietly to keep her wealth under the radar. But it's a terrible mistake. Hidden secrets have a way of being found out, and when Eleanor is hospitalised after a car accident, Simon realises that nothing is as it seems. As events spiral out of control, he finds himself on trial for a crime he swears he didn't commit: murder. The Widow is classic Grisham courtroom drama combined with a confounding murder mystery that will enthral his legion of fans. 💥350+ million copies, 45 languages, 10 blockbuster films: JOHN GRISHAM IS THE MASTER OF THE LEGAL THRILLER💥

12
1
ALCHEMISED
SenLinYu
Cover of ALCHEMISED

ALCHEMISED

by SenLinYu · Del Rey

26 wks on list

In this riveting dark fantasy debut, a woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy—and the man tasked with unearthing the deepest secrets of her past. “What is it you think you’re protecting in that brain of yours? The war is over. Holdfast is dead. The Eternal Flame extinguished. There’s no one left for you to save.” Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner—of war and of her own mind. Her Resistance friends and allies have been brutally murdered, her abilities suppressed, and the world she knew destroyed. In the aftermath of a long war, Paladia’s new ruling class of corrupt guild families and depraved necromancers, whose vile undead creatures helped bring about their victory, holds Helena captive. According to Resistance records, she was a healer of little importance within their ranks. But Helena has inexplicable memory loss of the months leading up to her capture, making her enemies wonder: Is she truly as insignificant as she appears, or are her lost memories hiding some vital piece of the Resistance’s final gambit? To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, Helena is sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world. Trapped on his crumbling estate, Helena’s fight—to protect her lost history and to preserve the last remaining shreds of her former self—is just beginning. For her prison and captor have secrets of their own . . . secrets Helena must unearth, whatever the cost.

13
7
THE CROSSROADS
C.J. Box
Cover of THE CROSSROADS

THE CROSSROADS

by C.J. Box · Putnam

4 wks on list

Game warden Joe Pickett fights for his life as his daughters try to uncover who shot him and left him for dead in this riveting new novel from #1 New York Times bestseller C. J. Box. Marybeth Pickett gets the call she has always dreaded: her husband Joe is in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head. Joe was found in his pickup at Antler Creek Junction, a crossroads connecting three ranches. Each road leading to a dangerous family. Each family with a different bone to pick with the local game warden. Marybeth and the new sheriff assume that Joe was ambushed by one of the families, but they have no idea which one since Joe didn’t say where he was going or why. With Joe unconscious and fighting for his life with Marybeth at his side, Sheridan, April, and Lucy split up and investigate each of families to uncover the truth of what happened to their father, before it’s too late.

14
NEW
THE GATE OF THE FERAL GODS
Matt Dinniman
Cover of THE GATE OF THE FERAL GODS

THE GATE OF THE FERAL GODS

by Matt Dinniman · Ace

2 wks on list

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Follow Carl, Princess Donut, and Mongo as they fight their way to the next level in the fourth book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series—now with bonus material exclusive to this print edition! New Achievement! Total, Utter Failure. You failed a quest less than five minutes after you received it. Now that’s talent. Surviving in a multilevel dungeon that also happens to be the set of the galaxy’s most watched game show has taught Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, that there’s only one thing they can count on apart from each other: they never know what’s coming next. And this floor is no exception. A floating fortress occupied by warrior gnomes. A castle made of sand. A derelict submarine guarded by malfunctioning machines. A haunted crypt surrounded by lethal traps. It was supposed to be easy. One bubble. Four castles. Fifteen days. Capture each one, and the stairwell is unlocked. Here's the thing. It's never easy. Going it alone is not an option this time, so Carl and his team must rely on the help of the low-level, I-can't-believe-these-idiots-are-still-alive crawlers trapped in the bubble with them. But can they be trusted? Welcome, Crawlers. Welcome to the fifth floor of the dungeon.

15
NEW
DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL
Matt Dinniman
Cover of DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL

DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL

by Matt Dinniman · Ace

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The apocalypse will be televised! Welcome to the first book in the wildly popular and addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series—now with bonus material exclusive to this print edition. You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic intergalactic game show. That’s what. Join Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the end of the world—or just get to the next level—in a video game–like, trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that’s actually the set of a reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy. Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain’t your ordinary game show. Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the Dungeon. Survival is optional. Keeping the viewers entertained is not. Includes part one of the exclusive bonus story “Backstage at the Pineapple Cabaret.”

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