At a Good Clip
The Bullet That Missed, British TV presenter-turned-novelist Richard Osman’s “diverting third Thursday Murder Club mystery,” per our review, “delivers laughs along with a nicely woven plot involving fraud, murder, and life in the Kent retirement village of Coopers Chase.” It hits our hardcover fiction list at #3, with stronger first-week print unit sales than those of its bestselling predecessors combined.
Literary Callbacks
Characters from a pair of lit fic heavy hitters return, convening on our hardcover fiction list. At #7, Elizabeth Strout’s Lucy by the Sea is the latest “captivating entry in the Lucy Barton series,” per our starred review, after 2021’s Oh William! “This time, Lucy decamps to rural Maine during the first year of the Covid lockdown,” where “loneliness, grief, longing, and loss pervade intertwined family stories as Lucy and William attempt to create new friendships in an initially hostile town.”
Five years after the publication of his Pulitzer-winning Less, Andrew Sean Greer is back with Less Is Lost, “another delightful road story featuring middle-aged writer Arthur Less,” according to our review. “Though a bit overboard at times, Greer packs in plenty of humor and some nicely poignant moments,” and lands at #14 on our list.
Maybe New
Sure, a Colleen Hoover bestseller isn’t exactly news anymore. But how about a new Colleen Hoover novel? Or new-ish, anyway: in 2018, after Atria had published Hoover’s Maybe Someday and Maybe Not, the author began posting the series finale, Maybe Now, one (unedited) chapter at a time for free on Wattpad; self-published paperback and e-book editions followed. This week, a new trade paper edition from Atria, which includes a new chapter, is the #7 book in the country. And watch this space: It Starts with Us, the sequel to Hoover’s It Ends with Us, is out October 18.
NEW & NOTABLE
THE DIVIDER
Peter Baker and Susan Glasser
#3 Hardcover Nonfiction
For this “comprehensive and scathing chronicle of the Trump administration,” our starred review said, married journalists Baker and Glasser enrich “their own reporting with the juiciest material from the slew of books about the Trump presidency, fashion[ing] a coherent narrative out of the chaos.”
ODDER
Katherine Applegate
#16 Children’s Fiction
“Applegate delivers an uplifting tale of an inquisitive sea otter pup raised by scientists after being separated from her mother,” per our starred review. “Though humans make cameo appearances in this edifying novel about otter life, the focus remains rightfully on its enigmatic star: a lovable otter who not only survives against the odds but thrives.”
