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Cornwell comes out on top

22.04.08 Philip Stone

Patricia Cornwell's first number one in two years lost no time heading to the top of the charts, taking pole position by more than 13,000 sales in its debut week. Helped by half-price book of the week spots at W H Smith and Waterstone's, Cornwell's Book of the Dead (Sphere) sold 38,065 copies last week. Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes (Hodder) stayed in second with a weekly sale of 24,633, while the resilient Delia's How to Cheat at Cooking (Ebury) remained in third (23,372 units sold).

Within original fiction, two new Hachette Livre titles went head-to-head. Picoult's death-row redemption drama, Change of Heart (Hodder), narrowly lost out to Harlan Coben's complex thriller, Hold Tight (Orion), which took second place with a 6,309 weekly sale. Both titles were strictly embargoed until Thursday 17th April so arrive in the charts on three-day sales totals alone. Cecelia Ahern remained number one. Meanwhile, thanks to a DVD/book combination offer at Tesco, Enchanted: Book of the Film remains on top of the children's chart with a 15,165 sale.

Revenue through BookScan's Total Consumer Market for the seven days ending 19th April stood at £28.2m, down 2.8% week-on-week but up a healthy 12.3% year-on-year.

Retail Bestseller News Patricia Cornwell Home Philip Stone

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