To Catch a Killer

I’ll be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara, who died in 2016, chronicles her search for the identity of the Golden State Killer. It pubbed February 27, and two months later, the Sacramento County sheriff’s department made an arrest in the cold case. The renewed attention boosted Dark to the #7 spot in the country, with its best weekly print unit sales to date.

(See all of this week's bestselling books.)

Blossoming Sales

The #1 book in the country is Magnolia Table, the first cookbook from Joanna Gaines, who, with husband Chip Gaines, owns the Waco, Tex., restaurant of the same name and stars on HGTV’s Fixer Upper.

Book buyers were hungry for more recipes, landing two other food-focused debuts on our list. At #11 in hardcover nonfiction, Once upon a Chef is by Jennifer Segal, who writes the blog of the same name and is a culinary school grad and former professional chef.

Three notches below, in The Best Cook in the World, journalist and All Over but the Shoutin’ author Rick Bragg offers a memoir

including recipes from the kitchen whiz of the title: his momma. Our starred review called the book “a testament that cooking and food still bind culture together.”

Media Matters

A trio of prominent journalists debut with books—one fiction, two nonfiction—that examine historical and current political events.

In hardcover fiction at #4, The Hellfire Club by CNN chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper is, our review said, “an intriguing if uneven political thriller set during the McCarthy era.”

Debuting at #5 in hardcover nonfiction is War on Peace by Ronan Farrow, a New Yorker journalist and former State Department official. In his “searching exposé,” our review says, Farrow proposes that “war has eclipsed diplomacy as the main instrument of U.S. foreign policy with dire consequences.”

Jonah Goldberg, senior editor at the National Review and author of Liberal Fascism and The Tyranny of Clichés, enjoyed his best print debut week to date with Suicide of the West, at #9 in hardcover nonfiction.

New & Notable

Leah on the Offbeat

Becky Albertalli

#3 Children’s Frontlist Fiction

This sequel to 2015’s Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda centers on Simon’s best friend, who is a senior in high school, a drummer, and bisexual. Simon, which won the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, has sold 247K print copies since its release and spawned a movie adaptation, Love, Simon, which opened in March.

Top 10 Overall

Rank Title Author Imprint Units
1 Magnolia Table Joanna Gaines Morrow 169,416
2 A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo Twiss/Keller Chronicle 116,414
3 A Higher Loyalty James B. Comey Flatiron 86,474
4 The Fallen David Baldacci Grand Central 32,400
5 Twisted Prey John Sandford Putnam 28,159
6 The Midnight Line Lee Child Dell 24,780
7 I’ll Be Gone in the Dark Michelle McNamara Harper 23,939
8 Oh, the Places You’ll Go! Dr. Seuss Random House 20,718
9 12 Rules for Life Jordan B. Peterson Random House Canada 19,078
10 Dog Man and Cat Kid (Dog Man #4) Dav Pilkey Graphix 13,737

All unit sales per Nielsen BookScan except where noted.