Crown Books reported that its net loss for November was $1.3 million on sales of $13.1 million. In the first nine months of the year, ended October 31, 1998, Crown had sales of $160.3 million and a net loss of $45.2 million. The company has hired the accounting firm Arthur Andersen to conduct a year-end audit of the chain. Crown's v-p of operations, Steve Pate, said the audit should reveal "very good Christmas sales."