A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending January 23, 2009 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.
The third between-the-numbers mystery featuring New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich retains the top spot this week with some shuffling in the order among last week's top six.
New this week at number 7 is Josh Bazell's debut mystery, Beat the Reaper. Meet Peter Brown, a young Manhattan emergency room doctor with an unusual past that is just about to catch up with him. His morning begins with the quick disarming of a would-be mugger, followed by a steamy elevator encounter with a sexy young pharmaceutical rep, topped off by a visit with a new patient -- and from there Peter's day is going to get a whole lot worse and a whole lot weirder. Because that patient knows Peter from his other life, when he had a different name and a very different job. The only reason he's a doctor now is thanks to the Witness Protection Program -- and even they can't protect him from the long reach of the New Jersey mob. Now he's got to do whatever it takes to keep his patient alive so he can buy some time ... and beat the reaper. Publishers Weekly calls Beat the Reaper "[a] breezy and darkly comic suspense novel" and adds "The hero's wry narrative voice, coupled with Bazells artful use of flashbacks to sustain tension and fill in Pietro's past, are a winning combination."
New in the top 15 this week, but actually debuting on the list last week, is the latest topical thriller from Richard North Patterson, Eclipse. Damon Pierce’s life has just reached a defining moment: a gifted California lawyer, he’s being divorced by his wife and his work often seems soulless. Then he receives a frantic e-mail from Marissa Brand Okari -- a woman he loved years ago -- and decides to risk everything to respond to her plea for help. Marissa’s husband, Bobby Okari, is the charismatic leader of a freedom movement in the volatile west African nation of Luandia, which is being torn apart by the world’s craving for its vast supply of oil. Bobby’s outspoken opposition to the exploitation of his homeland by PetroGlobal -- a giant American oil company with close ties to Luandia’s brutal government -- has enraged General Savior Karama, the country’s autocratic ruler. After Bobby leads a protest rally during a full eclipse of the sun, everyone in his home village is massacred by government troops. And now Bobby has been arrested and charged with the murder of three PetroGlobal workers. Still drawn to Marissa, Pierce agrees to defend Bobby, hoping to save both Bobby and Marissa from almost certain death. But the lethal politics of Luandia may cost Pierce his life instead. Getting a starred review from Publishers Weekly which said "This stellar legal thriller ... both informs and entertains", adding "Patterson has exerted all his considerable skill in creating a nightmare atmosphere that will cling to readers long after the last page is turned."
Finally, in 15th position is Mounting Fears, the 7th Will Lee political thriller by Stuart Woods. President Lee is having a rough week. As he prepares for the upcoming election, the usually cool and collected President has several crises going on at once, from loose nukes to a close political ally with skeletons in his closet. And as if that weren’t enough, Kate Rule Lee, his first lady and CIA director, is contending with another threat: the return of a dangerous and unusually cunning fugitive Teddy Fay. There’s plenty of the usual trouble to be found in Washington, from double-crossing political appointees to an impending sex scandal. But with the threat from abroad looming, the President puts every resource he has -- including Lance Cabot and Holly Barker -- into damage control as the clock ticks down to election night. From the seedy world of muckraking journalism to the murderous hotspots of Central America, there’s enough intrigue to keep even the sharpest and most daring of intelligence agents on edge.
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I just got an e-mail from www.bookins.com that Stuart Woods' Mounting Fears is on its way to me. I'm eager to receive it and pleased at Bookins' quick turnaround. I have Plum Spooky on my want list, too, and maybe it will come as quickly! I've already gotten Cross Country and re-traded it and am reading Scarpetta now. It's a great winter for mysteries!
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