Jacqueline Winspear’s ninth book in the Maisie Dobbs series, Elegy for Eddie, debuts at number one on the 4/5 Indie Bestseller list.

The series has been steadily rising (the most recent title, A Lesson in Secrets, debuted at #4 on the Indie list and at #6 on the NYT list), based on strong support from independent booksellers (eight of the titles, including this one, were chosen by booksellers for the Indie Next list) and librarians.

About a former WW I nurse turned detective in London, the series may also be gaining traction from the Downton Abbey-fueled interest in that period. The full series list is available on the author’s web site.

Unfortunately, Winspear, who is in the middle of her U.S. book tour, has had to cancel upcoming appearances due to a family emergency.

Elegy for Eddie: A Maisie Dobbs Novel Jacqueline Winspear Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Harper – (2012-03-27) ISBN / EAN: ISBN10: 0062049577/ 9780062049575

AudioGo and HarperAudio; Thorndike large print

Charlotte Rogan captivated the audience when she spoke last month at PLA’s Debut Authors panel. The NYT interviews her today about her book, Lifeboat, saying it is,

…already riding a wave of heady praise and early reviews. It carries sparkling blurbs by Emma Donoghue, the author of Room, and Hilary Mantel, the author of Wolf Hall. Booksellers have predicted that it will become a hit among book club members, those prized word-of-mouth readers who have helped make best sellers out of novels like The Help and The Paris Wife.

With its theme of a WWI shipwreck and survivors facing moral crises, it echoes James Cameron’s The Titanic which opens today in IMAX theaters (in others on Friday), a connection pointed out by many, including the UK’s Guardian, which calls it “A compelling and disquieting first novel.”

Libraries are showing holds, averaging 5:1.

The Lifeboat: A Novel Charlotte Rogan Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Hachette/Little, Brown/Reagan Arthur – (2012-04-03) ISBN : 9780316185905

Hachette Audio

This week one more book appeared to add to the shelf of books about how the French dress better, live better and raise their kids better, all while not getting fat. Turns out their kids eat better, too.

French Kids Eat Everything: How Our Family Moved to France, Cured Picky Eating, Banned Snacking, and Discovered 10 Simple Rules for Raising Happy, Healthy Eaters Karen Le Billon Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: HarperCollins/Morrow – (2012-04-03) ISBN / EAN: 0062103296 / 9780062103291

The author was interviewed on Good Morning America yesterday. The book just broke into the Amazon Top 100 (it’s at #98).

It seems the author’s name is real.

J.K. Rowling’s full Harry Potter Web site is scheduled to launch this month (it was delayed from the original October, 2011 date; the Pottermore Shop is open, however).

A sneak peek was released last week:

An “exclusive” nine-minute clip from the audio of Fifty Shades of Grey is on Entertainment Weekly‘s “Shelf Life” blog. We were suspicious, since the post is dated April 2nd (this year’s unofficial alternate to April Fool’s Day, since it was on a Sunday) and no publisher is listed.

Turns out, dear listeners, that it’s true. RH/Books on Tape confirms that they are doing the audio and that it will be available on OverDrive (UPDATE: it is downloadable ONLY).

BOT Library Edition Downloadable only, OverDrive; ISBN: 9780449808177 Price : $95

The book’s reader Becca Battoe, is the narrator of several YA and children’s audios, including Judy Blume’s It’s Not the End of the World. Her voice sounds young, appropriate for the innocent college student, Anastasia Steele. Don’t worry, the clip is very SFW.

Who should play Anastasia in the planned movie? People magazine suggests six actresses, including Emmy Rossum (starring in Showtime’s series Shameless and in the upcoming film version of the YA title, Beautiful Creatures).

The New York Times‘s review of the book du jour appears in the paper tomorrow, the day that Vintage releases trade paperback editions of Fifty Shades of Grey (the two other titles in the trilogy are scheduled for release on 4/17).

Unfortunately, we don’t get to hear Michiko Kakutani’s take on it. Instead, Alessandra Stanley, the newspaper’s television critic reviews it (no surprise, then, that many of the comparisons are to TV’s handling of sex). Stanley manages to come up with a new line about a book that has been talked to death; saying that it  “…is to publishing what Spanx was to the undergarment business: an antiquated product re-imagined as innovation.”

For their edition of the book, Vintage is sticking to what has now become an iconic cover:

Fifty Shades of Grey: Book One of the Fifty Shades Trilogy E L James Retail Price: $15.95 Paperback: 528 pages Publisher: Knopf/Vintage – (2012-04-03) ISBN / EAN: 0345803485 / 9780345803481

The Time magazine Web site offers a long excerpt (the first three chapters) of Under Wildwood (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray) coming September 25, the follow-up to Wildwood which was on the NYT children’s best seller list for two weeks last fall. It was also on the IndieBound top five for 18 weeks, three of them at #2.

Time also interviews the author, who is the singer/songwriter  for Portland folk band, The Decemberists, and the illustrator, Carson Ellis.