Morality Tale

The Good Place creator Michael Schur has the #4 hardcover nonfiction title with How to Be Perfect. “Schur pored over 2,500 years’ worth of philosophy to learn about human behavior and what it means to be good” while writing for the show, our review explained; the book distills that research into “a zippy guide.” It was #1 in the West North Central region, which includes the Kansas City area, home of Rainy Day Books.

In a preorder campaign organized by Schur and bookseller Geoffrey Jennings, the author came to Kansas City and personalized 2,700 copies. Rainy Day shipped packages across the U.S. and Canada and “as far away as Bulgaria and Singapore,” Jennings said. “Mike signed for two intense days, wearing the skin down on his index finger so much he couldn’t unlock his MacBook at the end.”

Southern Exposure

Emma y las otras señoras del narco (Emma and Other Narco Women) by Mexican journalist Anabel Hernández, the #6 book in the country, chronicles the lives of the wives and girlfriends of Mexico’s drug kingpins. Hernández, who lives in self-exile abroad, supported the book at the 2021 Guadalajara International Book Fair, accompanied by armed guards. Earlier that year, the author had another Spanish-language bestseller: El traidor (The Traitor), an investigation into the Sinaloa Cartel, debuted at #19 on our trade paperback list.

NEW & NOTABLE

Red-Handed
Peter Schweizer
#1 Hardcover Nonfiction, #1 overall
Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute and a Breitbart News senior contributor, follows Profiles in Corruption, Secret Empires, and Clinton Cash with a book that, per the subtitle, shows “how America’s elites get rich helping China win.”

Violeta
Isabel Allende, trans. from the Spanish by Frances Riddle
#11 Hardcover Fiction
“Chilean writer Allende chronicles the lives of an upper-class South American family across various historical events of the 20th century,” our review said. “It’s a mixed bag, but Allende succeeds once again at making the historical feel personal.”

The Magnolia Palace
Fiona Davis
#13 Hardcover Fiction
Our starred review called this the “best work to date” from The Lions of Fifth Avenue author Davis, who “returns with the captivating story of a missing diamond and the history of New York’s Henry Clay Frick House, before and after it became a museum.”