Robert B. Parker's latest bestseller, Cold Service, a Spenser novel, hits our fiction chart at #3, his highest landing ever. Putnam reports that the book's sales were 40% higher than Bad Business, last year's hardcover Parker bestseller (it's #8 on this week's mass market list, with 401,000 copies in print). A recent TV movie of Parker's Jesse Stone novel Stone Cold was one explanation offered by the publisher for the new book's strong out-of-the-gate performance (it debuted in the #1 spot on the national Book Sense list). The CBS-TV adaptation of Stone Cold, starring Tom Selleck, aired to excellent ratings on February 20. Parker began his two-week tour to promote Cold Service (184,000 copies in print) by traveling to New York; Houston, Tex.; Scottsdale, Ariz.; and Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Francisco, driving most of the way, as is his wont. He follows that trip with a week of Boston-area signings. Parker's fans can look forward to two more 2005 books—the western Appaloosa on June 2, and another Spenser novel, School Days, on September 27.
Cold Is Hot
Mar 21, 2005
A version of this article appeared in the 03/21/2005 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: