An interesting trend is noticeable on the hardcover nonfiction bestseller chart—top-ranking novelists and veterans of the fiction list are taking over. Two brand-name fiction writers are among the top 10, and a third is in the top 20 and will most probably join her fellow novelists in the top 15 next week. We are talking about Patricia Cornwell, #1 on the nonfiction side with Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper, Case Closed after less than a week in the stores, Pat Conroy's My Losing Season, beginning its second month on the national nonfiction charts; and Mary Higgins Clark's memoir, Kitchen Privileges.
Cornwell's myriad fans enjoy the many forensic details in her Kay Scarpetta mysteries. She used her professional (six years in the Virginia medical examiner's office) and literary acumen to solve the Jack the Ripper crimes that occurred back in 1888 in Victorian London. Putnam's first printing is 625,000, and Cornwell's appearances on her tour have drawn SRO crowds. Tickets for her appearance at the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Tex., sold out within the first 24 hours, and the venue received more than 13,000 inquiries. Combined sales at the three national book chains—Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks and Borders—totaled about 25,000. That's more than the 18,600 copies that Clark's Isle of Dogs sold in fall 2001. Her earlier #1 bestsellers, The Last Precinct (2000) and Black Notice (1999), had combined first-week sales at the three chains of 46,000 and 50,800, respectively.
Every party celebrating Mary Higgins Clark is a publishing and family affair, with most of her children and grandchildren in attendance. Now, after 27 bestsellers and 70 million copies in print just in the United States, Clark has penned her memoir, Kitchen Privileges. The book's on-sale date was November 19 and Simon & Schuster launched it with a 275,000-copy printing. She kicked off the publicity for her book with an interview with Katie Couric on Today and CNN's American Morning. Upcoming is a lead review in People magazine, a large excerpt in the December issue of Reader's Digest and more broadcast publicity and N.Y. area appearances.
