Mystery Bestsellers for the Week Ending August 03, 2012

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending August 3rd, 2012 has been posted by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books.

Still no change at the top this week with the stand-alone thriller Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn scoring well above the competition.

Two new titles enter the list this week (position in parentheses).

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(12): Odd Apocalypse
Dean Koontz

An Odd Thomas Mystery (5th in series)

Once presided over by a flamboyant Hollywood mogul during the Roaring '20s, the magnificent West Coast property known as Roseland is now home to a reclusive billionaire financier and his faithful servants. And, at least for the moment, it's also a port in the storm for Odd Thomas and his traveling companion, the inscrutably charming Annamaria, the Lady of the Bell. In the wake of Odd's most recent clash with lethal adversaries, the opulent manor's comforts should be welcome. But there's far more to Roseland than meets even the extraordinary eye of Odd, who soon suspects it may be more hell than haven.

A harrowing taste of Roseland's terrors convinces Odd that it's time to hit the road again. Still, the prescient Annamaria insists that they've been led there for a reason, and he's promised to do his best for the ghost on horseback. Just how deep and dreadful are the mysteries Roseland and her masters have kept for nearly a century? And what consequences await whoever is brave, or mad, enough to confront the most profound breed of evil? Odd only knows. Like his acclaimed creator, the irresistible Odd Thomas is in top-notch form — as he takes on what may well be the most terrifying challenge yet in his curious career.

            

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(13): The Light Between Oceans
M. L. Stedman

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day's journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby's cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom's judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

            

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