Berlin defense attorney Ferdinand von Schirach scored his second bestseller in Germany last month with his second book, a collection of nine short stories involving unpunished criminal acts and the difficulty in discerning good and evil. The format of Guilt follows the style of his first hit, Crime, which looks at nine criminal acts carried out by very different people. Knopf is set to release Crime in the U.S. in January. An American bestseller debuted in the third spot on the German fiction list in August, as P.C. and Kristin Cast’s Chosen (the House of Night series, book 3) is proving almost as popular abroad as in the States.

A year after Lars Kepler’s The Hypnotist hit #1 in Sweden, The Paganini Contract landed in the top spot this August. Kepler is the pseudonym for the established husband and wife authors Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril. The Hypnotist was one of the hot titles at the 2009 London Book Fair and was bought for the U.S. after the fair by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/Sarah Crichton Books; it is tentatively set for release in 2011.

The highest debut on Italy’s August bestseller list last month was The Mussolini Channel, which landed in the second spot. The fourth novel by Antonio Pennacchi is set in the Pontine Marshes, which Mussolini reclaimed before WWII. Jeffery Deaver cracked the top 10 list in Italy in August, with The Burning Wire landing in seventh place.

One of the few new nonfiction titles to place high on the bestseller list last month was The End of Patience by a German juvenile court judge who advocates hearing minor criminal acts committed by minors within three weeks of arrest.

International Bestsellers

Germany

FICTION

Schuld
Guilt
Ferdinand von Schirach
Piper

Hummeldumm
Bumble Dumb
Tommy Jaud
Scherz

Erwählt
Chosen (House of Night 3)
P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Fischer

NONFICTION

Das ende der geduld
The End of Patience
Kristin Heisg
Herder

Höllenritt
Hell Ride
Ulrich Detrois
Econ

In der mitte des lebens
In the Middle of Life
Margot Käßmann
Herder

Sweden

FICTION

Paganini-kontraktet
The Paganini Contract
Lars Kepler
Albert Bonniers Förlag

Blodläge
A Place of Blood
Johan Theorin
Wahlström & Widstrand

Den farliga leken
Dangerous Game
Mari Jungstedt

NONFICTION

Albert Bonniers Förlag
One more slice : surdegsbröd, pizza, pasta och söta bakverk
One More Slice: Leavened Bread, Pizza, Pasta and Sweet Pastry
Leila Lindholm
Walter and Books

Fågelsång: 150 svenska fåglar och deras läten
Birdsongs: 150 Swedish Birds and Their Sounds
Lars Svensson and Jan Pedersen
Max Ström Bokförlag

Morberg grillar
Barbeque with Morberg
Per Morberg
Bonnier Fakta

Italy

COMBINED

Acqua in bocca
Something Smells Fishy
Andrea Camilleri and Carlo Lucarelli
Minimum Fax

Canale Mussolini
The Mussolini Channel
Antonio Pennacchi
Mondadori

Acciaio
Steel
Silvia Avallone
Rizzoli

La caccia al tesoro
Treasure Hunting
Andrea Camilleri
Sellerio Editore Palermo

L’ultima riga delle favole
The Last Line of Fairy Tales
Massimo Gramellini
Longanesi

Mister Gregory
Mister Gregory
Sveva Casati Modignani
Sperling & Kupfer