Back in 2001, James Patterson launched a series with 1st to Die, featuring the Women's Murder Club. Publisher Little, Brown claims it as the bestselling new mystery series of the decade. That first book and the followup, 2nd Chance, both began their bestseller runs in the #1 slot and had tenures of 13 weeks and eight weeks, respectively. The third in the series, 3rd Degree, follows suit, landing in the #1 slot its first week out with more than one million copies in print. Patterson, who writes this series with Andrew Gross, does something unusual in this book—he kills off one of the leading characters. The author's first promotional gig was an appearance on Today on laydown date, March 1.