Hotshot

With sales off to the fastest start of any Robert B. Parker novel to date—and that covers nearly 30 years—Potshot, his new Spenser adventure, started with a 170,000-copy first printing. Parker kicked off the publicity for the Putnam release with an hour-long interview on NPR's The Connection the week prior to pub. The novel received a starred PW notice, and Putnam associate publicity director Michael Barson noted, "Still more favorable notices are on the way, including reviews in People, Entertainment Weekly and USA Today. " The author is doing a handful of signings in and around Boston, but is holding off doing his big tour until October's Death in Paradise, a Jesse Stone novel.

With reporting by Dick Donahue