In his review of Louis Bayard’s The Black Tower in today’s Wall Street Journal, Robert Hughes says the author “has emerged as a writer of historical thrillers in the vein of Caleb Carr.”

The current Entertainment Weekly calls it “delicious.” Set in Paris in 1818, the book concerns a “sad-sack hero” whose life is changed by a flamboyant figure,  based on the legendary French detective Eugène François Vidocq. Marilyn Stasio, in her 8/22 NYT review says,

The real-life Vidocq was unmatched as a figure of romantic legend. On the run as a thief, he offered his services to the law, becoming so adept at catching criminals that in 1811 he was named the first chief of the Sûreté, whose detective ranks he filled with former miscreants like himself.

Vidocq is determined to figure out if Marie Antoinette’s son really died in prison, or if he can still find him alive.

There are few holds showing in libraries I checked, so readers advisory librarians may actually have an opportunity to put the book into customer’s hands.

• Hardcover: $24.95
• Publisher: William Morrow (August 26, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0061173509
• ISBN-13: 978-0061173509

In NPR’s regular feature, “Books We Like,” Barrie Hardymon praises both of Tana French’s psychological thrillers; In the Woods (2007, which won the Edgar for best first novel; it has been on the NYT Paperback Fiction bestseller list since its release in that format) and The Likeness (July).

Reviewers have trouble figuring out how to describe the appeal of French’s books. Hardymon says that, in Into the Woods, French,

…audaciously denied the closure that mystery fans crave; one of the crimes remained unsolved. Readers hoping that this follow-up novel would deliver that resolution should be disappointed for about a minute and a half — the time it takes for the new story to grip.

In The Likeness, the main character takes on the identity of a murder victim,

…inheriting an intense and exclusive group of friends…[this] cagily charismatic group drinks, banters, screws and harbors its intimacies as seductively as the oddballs in Donna Tartt’s classic The Secret History. As in that novel, the thrill comes in exploring the peculiar, collective psychology of the clique — the members of which keep secrets about Lexie’s murder from outsiders and each other.

Reserves are running five to one in some areas on The Likeness, six weeks after publication. The book will also be coming out in large type in October.

• Hardcover: $25.95
• Publisher: Viking, (July 17, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0670018864
• ISBN-13: 978-0670018864

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will be pubbed in the US in a few weeks, on the heels of great success in Europe. The Times of London explores that success in a weekend feature.  

In the author’s native Sweden, the book sold over one million copies before being published in England, where it’s sold a more modest, but still very strong 52,000. The publisher is about to release it in paperback, with a 200,000 copy printing.

The book is the first in Stieg Larsson’s Millenium Trilogy, which is so popular that in Stockholm, fans walk in the steps of the fictional characters.

The Times describes Girl with the Dragon Tattoo this way,

The protagonists of Dragon Tattoo are a remarkably well-drawn duo; disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist and youthful computer hacker Lisbeth Salander. Salander, in particular, is something completely new in crime fiction; she has an alienating appearance (facial jewellery, ill-matched clothes and the dragon tattoo of the title). But despite her forbidding appearance, she is immensely vulnerable, struggling with personal demons. As she and her journalist colleague investigate the disappearance of the niece of an ailing tycoon, readers realised that Salander was an irresistible new character in the genre.

The second title in the trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire, landed at #10 in France and the third, Castles in the Sky, is now #1 in Sweden.

Unfortunately, Larsson only lived long enough to see his first book become a success in Sweden. He died at the age of 50 in 2004 from an apparent heart attack (there are some who suspect foul play; he was a journalist who had made some scary enemies).

LJ’s Willy Williams gave it a strong review (LJ review, 8/15) and blogged about it shortly after BEA (we also hear it’s the book she told her boss she had to take with her on vacation).

The originally annouced 100,000 first printing is now up to 150,000, indicating that accounts responded well to it.  A bookseller for BookPeople in Austin, TX makes it a  “Top Shelf Pick” on the indie’s weg site and discovered that fellow booksellers in the midwest can’t stop raving about it.

European hits often don’t translate to the US and there are elements in the book that may not appeal to Americans (the novel, titled “Men Who Hate Women” in Sweden, focuses on the serial abuse of women). A reviewer in the Charleston City Paper (the only American newspaper review to date) is so put off by the book, that she suggests Larsson himself was a man who hated women.

Several of the libraries I’ve checked have not ordered it; the rest have ordered it in modest quantities, with some holds.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and Reg Keeland

• Hardcover: $24.95; 480 pages
• Publisher: Knopf (September 16, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0307269752
• ISBN-13: 978-0307269751

• Audio CD: Abridged edition, $29.95
• Publisher: Random House Audio;  (September 16, 2008)
• Reader: Martin Wenner
• ISBN-10: 0739370642
• ISBN-13: 978-0739370643

The Gargoyle appears at #14 (tied with #13) on the 8/24 NYT Fiction Bestseller list, joining the other debut fiction titles that have enjoyed pre-pub media attention this summer:

• #3 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, rising from #5 after two weeks on the list
• #6 The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, down from #4 last week, its first dip after rising steadily up the list for the last nine weeks
• #7 The Lace Reader, its second week at #7
• #14 The Gargoyle, its first week on the list

The New York Times Book Review lets Princeton English professor Sophie Gee have at The Gargoyle in the 8/15 issue. She has a fine time picking apart the book’s inconsistencies and literary pretensions, but is less eloquent about the book’s appeal, 

As straight-up entertainment,The Gargoyle is so-so. It’s not exactly unputdownable, but it has enough unexplained details to remain interesting. Could it be true that Marianne lived in the 14th century, and how did she get to the present? Why does she now compulsively carve stone gargoyles in the basement of her house, and what have these grotesque physical forms to do with the hero’s own disfiguring burn scars? All fine questions, which build to a moderately satisfying conclusion.

Accepted wisdom in publishing is that it’s best if publicity hits at once, ideally, right at pub date. After all, you can’t count on the public to be able to remember a title unless they hear it repeatedly in a short time frame.

But, occasionally, a long slow build is equally effective.

This seems to be the case for The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, a true crime story published in April, which just recently shot to #47 on Amazon’s bestseller list, nearly three months after publication.

Libraries are showing heavy reserves, as high as 10 to 1 in some places.

The book is the story of a historic Victorian murder that was the sensation of its time. It became the model for detective novels, including Wilkie Collins’s Moonstone and Charles Dickens’s The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

So, for mystery fans, the book appeals on many levels. In addition, it reveals a great deal about the sociology of the time. This confluence of a mystery illuminating the issues of the day caused Library Journal to compare it to Devil in the White City.

As George Gibson, CEO of the book’s American publisher, Walker & Company, told Early Word, “mystery bloggers got onto this early and they’re a transatlantic group.” As buzz built in the U.K. where author Kate Summerscale is well-known, momentum began to grow here as well. In mid-April, Entertainment Weekly did a full-page review, (”A nonfiction history that moves with all the twists of a mystery novel,”), followed a couple of weeks later by a rave in Time magazine (”not just a dark, vicious true-crime story; it is the story of the birth of forensic science, founded on the new and disturbing idea that innocent, insignificant domestic details can reveal unspeakable horrors to those who know how to read them”). In early May, it was reviewed on NPR’s “Fresh Air“.

The book went onto the New York Times extended besteller list for one week at #34 in mid-May.

And then, last week, the book won the UK’s respected Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfcition which “celebrates diverse and thought-provoking writing in non-fiction.” Last week, Marilyn Stasio devoted her Crime column to it in the New York Times Book Review. It rose to  #47 on Amazon, which means it could very well reappear on print bestseller lists.

Walker says there are currently 40,000 copies in print.

THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER

A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective.

By Kate Summerscale.

• Hardcover: $24.95
• Publisher: Walker & Company (April 15, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0802715354
• ISBN-13: 978-0802715357

NPR has been running a “Crime in the City” series that explores mysteries set in particular cities. Generally, it features well-known authors such as Robert Parker (for Boston, of course), Michael Connelly (L.A.), John Burdett (Bangkok) and Donna Leon (Venice).

Today’s episode (on “All Things Considered”) features an author with a much shorter track record. Chelsea Cain’s first book in her Portland, Maine (oops — make that Oregon — thanks for the correction, Wendy!) series, Heartsick was pubbed just last year. Many of you may remember how enthusiastic Talia Ross, Macmillian library marketing director, has been about it (spleen removal, anyone?). Talia may have been one of the book’s earliest enthusiasts, but she was soon joined by others; the book appeared on several bestseller lists, including the NY Times, where it debuted at #8 and stayed on for four weeks. Entertainment Weekly callled the book’s villain, “one of the most seductive and original psychopaths since Hannibal Lecter.”

Cain’s next book in the series, Sweetheart, will be pubbed on Sept. 2nd. with an aggressive 200,000 copy first printing. Booklist’s Bill Ott, a man who knows his mysteries, gave both books starred reviews. We hear that the violence has been dialed back in the second book and the plot has been dialed up, which may make this one accessible to an even broader audience.

Some libraries show modest ordering, but most are clearly anticipating strong demand.

The third title in the series, Heartbreaker, is planned for Fall of ‘09. The mass market paperback of Heartsick is coming the end of the month.

The next author to be covered in the Crime in the City series will be Joseph Wambaugh.

Sweetheart

Chelsea Cain

• Hardcover: $24.95
• Publisher: St. Martin’s Minotaur; (September 2, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 031236847X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312368470

• Audio CD: Unabridged, $39.95
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio; (September 2, 2008)
• Reader: Carolyn McCormick
• ISBN-10: 1427205035
• ISBN-13: 978-1427205032

• Large Print Hardcover: $30.95
• Publisher: Gale Cengage; (September 2, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1410408833
• ISBN-13: 978-1410408839

Heartsick — Mass Market Pbk

Chelsea Cain

• Mass Market Paperback:$7.99
• Publisher: St. Martin’s Minotaur (July 29, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0312947151
• ISBN-13: 978-0312947156

The phrase “eagerly anticipated” is not only cliched, but rarely documented. In the case of Palace Council, we are justified in using the term, since the book is featured on four Summer Reading lists (USA Today, L.A. Times, O the Oprah Magazine and the Washington Post. See the “Books of Summer — Picks” list at the right).

Ironically, People did not include Palace Council on their list, but they’re the first of the consumer pubs to review it (expect more this week). They say,

Carter’s third novel, set between 1952 and 1972, is a fast-paced political thriller…readers will enjoy the novel’s plot twists…In this story, no one can be trusted.

Most ibraries have the book on order in all formats, with comfortable holds to copy ratios; a few have not ordered the large type or audio editions.

• Hardcover: $26.95
• Publisher: Knopf (July 8, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0307266583
• ISBN-13: 978-0307266583

• Audio CD: Abridged edition, $29.95
• Publisher: Random House Audio, (July 8, 2008)
• Reader: Dominic Hoffman
• ISBN-10: 0739343408
• ISBN-13: 978-0739343401

• Unabridged Audio: $129.00
• Publisher: Books on Tape, July 8
• Narrator: Mirron Willis
• CD: 9781415955963
• Tape: 9781415956366

• Large Print (Trade Paperback): $26.95
  
• Publisher: Books on Tape, July 8
• ISBN: 978-0-7393-2813-2

Denis Johnson’s new noir novel, Nobody Move, is being serialized in Playboy. New York magazine’s blog claims this finally gives them a reason to buy the magazine.

The July issue, with the first of four installments, came out on Friday. No news yet on whether the National Book Award winner (Tree of Smoke) has increased the mag’s newsstand sales. The only review to date is from the LA Times’s David Ulin. The verdict on installment one? Mixed, but he’s ready to sign on for the whole series.

Come September ‘09, Nobody Move will be released between hardcovers by FSG.

As we predicted, Spies of Warsaw landed on bestseller lists this week:

NYT Fiction - #15

Washington Post Fiction — #5

SF Chronicle Fiction — #1

USA Today — #74

Some libraries show it still on order (pub date was last Tuesday), with holds building. Time to get it on the shelves!

Furst is considered one of the best espionage authors alive today, but his books have only recently been bestsellers (his most recent, from ‘06, Foreign Correspondent was on the lower rungs of the Times list for a few weeks and higher on West Coast lists).

The book has been reviewed widely, (including a rave from NYT daily reviewer, Janet Maslin). The Times also featured an interview with Furst by Charles McGrath on Saturday.

For an interesting take on the recent revival of espionage fiction, see Sara Weinman’s “The Spies Came Out of the Cold” from the Barnes and Noble Review.

• Hardcover: $25.00
• Publisher: Random House (June 3, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1400066026
• ISBN-13: 978-1400066025

• Audio CD: Unabridged; 39.95
• Reader: Daniel Gerroll
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio; (June 3, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0743533879
• ISBN-13: 978-0743533874

• Large Print: $33.95
  
• Publisher: Thorndike Press; (July 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1410408035
• ISBN-13: 978-1410408037

Alan Furst is often referred to as one of the best espionage writers alive. His tenth book received a rave from Janet Maslin in the New York Times last week (Dan Cryer in the San Francisco Chronicle was less enthusiastic, however ).

His most recent title, Foreign Correspondent, spent a few weeks at the bottom of the NYT bestseller list (it was higher on the independent bookseller’s and West Coast lists). It’s currently at #54 on Amazon, which means it is likely to begin appearing on print lists this week. Libraries show it still on order and some have heavy reserves to copy ratios.

Furst began his book tour this week. Stops are scheduled in Corte Madera, CA; Boulder, CO; Aurora, CO; Winetka, IL; Milwaukee, WI; Houston, TX; Coral Gables, FL; Raleigh, NC; New York City; Cambridge, MA and Fairfield, CT.

• Hardcover: $25.00
• Publisher: Random House (June 3, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1400066026
• ISBN-13: 978-1400066025

• Audio CD: Unabridged; 39.95
• Reader: Daniel Gerroll
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio; (June 3, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0743533879
• ISBN-13: 978-0743533874

• Large Print: $33.95
  
• Publisher: Thorndike Press; (July 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1410408035
• ISBN-13: 978-1410408037