Janet's Plum Spot
by Daisy Maryles -- Publishers Weekly, 7/1/2002
Janet Evanovich continues the recent bestseller-list trend of getting to the #1 spot during the first week of sales and knocking off the previous occupant who had been there for just one week. Her newest, Hard Eight, unseats James Patterson's newest, The Beach House. Will this trend continue? Aiming for the #1 slot next week is Danielle Steel's 55th novel, Sunset in St. Tropez. Delacorte did a one-day laydown June 25 and at the time this column was written (2 p.m., June 27), Amazon.com was tracking Sunset at #6, one notch above Hard Eight. Since 1999, four of Steel's 10 hardcover titles enjoyed a #1 landing the first week out. Meanwhile, sales for Evanovich's book were so brisk that St. Martin's went back for a 50,000 second printing, making 550,000 copies in print.
