Mystery Bestsellers for October 04, 2007

A list of the top ten mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending October 04, 2007 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

Shoot Him if He Runs, the 14th thriller in the Stone Barrington series by Stuart Woods, displaces James Patterson's You've Been Warned at the top of the bestselling mystery list this week. Patterson needn't worry too much, though: he still has three books in the top 15.

New this week: Dark of the Moon by John Sandford Virgil Flowers, a character introduced in Sandford's Davenport series, and a member of the the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, has never seen a case like this. A house way up on a ridge explodes into flames, its owner, a man named Judd, trapped inside. There is a lot of reason to hate him, Flowers discovers. Years ago, Judd had perpetrated a scam that'd driven a lot of local farmers out of business, even to suicide. There are also rumors swirling around: of some very dicey activities with other men's wives; of involvement with some nutcase religious guy; of an out-of-wedlock daughter. In fact, Flowers concludes, you'd probably have to dig around to find a person who didn't despise him. But it's not an isolated incident. Three weeks before, there'd been another murder-two, in fact-a doctor and his wife. Flowers knows it isn't a coincidence, it had to be personal. But just how personal is something even he doesn't realize, and may not find out until too late. Because the next victim ... may be himself. Publishers Weekly states that "Sandford keeps the reader guessing and the pages turning while Flowers displays the kind of cool and folksy charm that might force Davenport to share the spotlight more often."

'Tis the season for trimming the tree, caroling, baking cookies, and curling up by the Yuletide waiting for Santa to drop down the chimney. But in Candy Cane Murder, a festive collection of holiday whodunits, murder is also paying a visit. Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine, and Leslie Meier have each written a mini-mystery featuring their respective series character (Fluke's Hannah Swensen in Candy Cane Murder, Levine's Jaine Austen in The Dangers of Candy Canes, and Meier's Lucy Stone in Candy Canes of Christmas Past). Kirkus Reviews states that, "Like a box of holiday chocolates, this recipe-studded assortment gives all readers a crack at their favorites."

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