‘13 Hours’ Lands at #2

Adding to the ongoing controversy surrounding the September 11, 2012 attack on the CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya is 13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened In Benghazi. Written by Boston University journalism professor Mitchell Zuckoff (Lost in Shangri-La) and co-credited to the Annex Security Team, the book hits our Hardcover Nonfiction list this week at #, with more than 24,000 units sold, according to outlets reporting to Nielsen BookScan. The New York Times stoked pre-publication buzz for the embargoed book by revealing, in a September 4 preview, the security team members’ assertion that the base chief delayed their response for 20 minutes while the attack was unfolding. As administration officials maintain that there was no order to “stand down,” 13 Hours probably won’t be the last word on Benghazi. —Alex Crowley

It’s Kissinger’s ‘World’; We Just Live in It

Henry Kissinger returns to the bestseller charts this week with World Order, which appears at #13 on PW’s Hardcover Nonfiction list. With 6,607 copies sold, the book’s performance so far marks an advance over its predecessor, May 2011’s On China, which sold 5,567 copies in its first week and has gone on to sell nearly 60K units in hardcover. Kissinger’s latest received a starred review from PW that commented on his complicated public profile, noting that “the man some call ‘war criminal’ also won the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize.” The 91-year-old former national security advisor and Secretary of State has been making the media rounds, with appearances on the Colbert Report, Charlie Rose, and NPR’s Weekend Edition, and scheduled dates at the 92nd Street Y and the Philadelphia Free Library. —Everett Jones

Channeling Agatha Christie

Almost 40 years after Agatha Christie killed off Hercule Poirot in 1975’s Curtain, the dapper Belgian detective returns in The Monogram Murders, set in 1929 London. British poet and novelist Sophie Hannah’s pastiche, which is authorized by the Christie estate, debuts at #13 on our Hardcover Fiction list, with 5,066 copies sold. Generally glowing reviews notwithstanding, Hannah in a July interview with PW said that she was initially intimidated by the idea that, inevitably, her tale would be compared with the dozens of novels and short stories Christie wrote featuring Poirot. “It was not so much stepping into Agatha’s shoes, because nobody could do that, but of polishing her shoes,” said Hannah, who was five years old when Christie died in 1976 and has been an “Agatha addict” since age 12. —Claire Kirch

Actor Jason Segel Steps into a New Spotlight

After making his mark as a film and TV actor, screenwriter and songwriter, Jason Segel now adds bestselling middle-grade novelist to his list of credits. Cowritten with Kiki Strike author Kirsten Miller, his first novel, Nightmares!, debuts at #11 on our Children’s Fiction list and launches a trilogy based on the first movie script that Segel, now 34, wrote when he was in his early 20s. In the book, Charlie’s father marries a woman the boy is convinced is a witch; after his worst nightmares start to come true, he has to face his fears to save his town. “I had terrible nightmares as a child,” Segel told PW, “and I found that films like The Goonies and Labyrinth really helped remind me that there’s still magic in the world, and that helped me face my own fears. I want to let kids know that you can work through nightmares to make them your dreams.” —Sally Lodge

Top 10 Overall

1 Personal Lee Child Delacorte 34,293
2 Minecraft: Combat Handbook Scholastic Scholastic 30,897
3 Sycamore Row John Grisham Dell 30,660
4 Festive in Death J.D. Robb Putnam 30,171
5 If I Stay Gayle Forman Penguin/Speak 26,407
6 Act Like a Success, Think Like a Success Steve Harvey Amistad 25,757
7 Dust Patricia Cornwell Berkley 25,333
8 13 Hours Mitchell Zuckoff Hachette/Twelve 24,450
9 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn Broadway 23,910
10 Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good Jan Karon Putnam 23,521