Mystery Bestsellers for January 19, 2007

A list of the top ten mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending January 19, 2007 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

John Lescroart crafts another San Francisco-based legal thriller in The Suspect. When Dr. Caryn Dryden is found floating dead in her hot tub, homicide inspector Devin Juhle targets a suspect close to home: her husband, Stuart Gorman. After all, Stuart was recently asked for a divorce, and he stands to gain millions in insurance. His alibi - that he was at his cabin on Tamarack Lake that weekend - doesn't keep him out of hot water. But maybe a shrewd attorney will. Gina Roake, a partner in Dismas Hardy's firm, is eager to take on such a high-profile case, especially when the client's innocence seems so easy to prove. Yet the more time she spends with Stuart, the more complicated her feelings become: she feels strangely drawn to him at first, then has to confront the possibility of a dark history lurking in his past. Desperate to know the truth, Gina calls in Wyatt Hunt to investigate. Before the facts are in, her client is on the lam: he's already been tried in the press, and so he's certain the courtroom won't bring him any mercy either. Racing to a stunning conclusion as Gina uncovers disturbing answers, The Suspect is a chilling story of secrets, love, and lies. Kirkus Reviews states, "... some crackling courtroom scenes and a surprise ending that will catch at least half his readers unawares."

Also new this week is another legal thriller, Bad Blood, the 9th entry in the Alexandra Cooper mystery series by Linda Fairstein. The Manhattan Assistant District Attorney is deeply involved in a complicated, high-profile homicide case. Defendant Brendan Quillian, a prominent young businessman, is charged with the brutal strangulation of his beautiful young wife, Amanda. His conviction is not a certainty: Quillian was conveniently out of town on the day of the killing, and he has hired a formidable defense attorney who seems one step ahead of Cooper as the trial opens. But with the help of detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, she is confident she can prove Quillian paid a hit man to commit the crime. Halfway through the trial, a major catastrophe alters the course of Alex's case. A cataclysmic explosion rips through New York City's Water Tunnel #3, a spectacular feat of modern engineering that will be completed years in the future. Cooper is quickly drawn into the tragedy when she discovers a strange connection linking Brendan Quillian to the tunnel workers killed in the explosion. She and Chapman descend deep into the earth to penetrate the subterranean universe of the sandhogs, as the brotherhood of tunnel workers are colorfully known. Their probe soon leads to another murder victim, whose blood may hold the key to Cooper's mesmerizingly complex case. One closely held secret reveals another, and soon Alex discovers that only by unraveling ancient rivalries among sandhog families will she be able to solve the murder of Amanda Quillian -- and save her own life as well.

Also new this week is Dust, the 21st mystery by Martha Grimes to feature Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury, and the 7th entry in the Eve Duncan forensics thriller series by Iris Johansen, Stalemate.

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