She Sells Sanctuary
Entangled Publishing launched its Red Tower new adult fantasy imprint in May 2023 with Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros; that book and every Red Tower release since has hit our list in its first week on sale. The imprint’s fifth title, Sanctuary of the Shadow by Aurora Ascher, continues that streak, debuting at #3 on our hardcover fiction list. Fourth Wing, meanwhile, is #2 on that list this week, and its sequel, Iron Flame, takes the top spot.
Dream Weaver
Brynne Weaver’s Butcher & Blackbird, a dark romantic comedy, pubbed December 12 and in its fifth week on sale appears on our trade paperback list for the first time, at #14. Zando, the book’s publisher, cites a combination of BookTok buzz—#butcherandblackbird has 17.2 million views to date—and new distribution avenues; the title landed at Walmart last week.
Blank Space
The spy thriller Argylle debuts at #13 on our hardcover fiction list ahead of a movie of the same name, set to open February 2, and amid a mystery/marketing ploy surrounding its author, Elly Conway. Swifties latched onto the idea that Conway is a pseudonym for Taylor Swift—for one, the book’s main character, a spy novelist named Elly Conway, totes around a Scottish fold cat in a backpack, à la TSwift. Matthew Vaughn, the movie’s director, has debunked the Swift supposition, though he admits that the pop star inspired his family, which includes wife Claudia Schiffer, to get a Scottish fold of their own. The plot thickens: that cat, Chip, stars in the movie and has a book of his own coming out January 23: Blue Chip: Confessions of Claudia Schiffer’s Cat.
NEW & NOTABLE
HOLMES, MARPLE & POE
James Patterson and Brian Sitts
#4 Hardcover Fiction, #9 overall
“In this breezy thriller, Patterson and Sitts introduce private eyes Brandon Holmes, Auguste Poe, and Margaret Marple as they tackle a series of cases involving murder, kidnapping, art theft, and fraud,” our review said, deeming it “diverting-enough entertainment.”
SONS OF DARKNESS
Gourav Mohanty
#11 Hardcover Fiction
This debut is “a hefty grimdark fantasy retelling of the Mahabharata, inspired in part by Game of Thrones,” according to our review. “In vivid prose, Mohanty combines ghastly tortures, sly political machinations, throbbing romance, and eerie religious and social rites into a demanding but rewarding epic and sets the stage for even more gasps in a coming sequel.”
