Adult Mystery Writers

[Diane Durbin <dianed@TENET.EDU>]

I've been following the Adult Mystery Writers, and just as I read the
last message I received an email newsletter from one of the *great*
mystery bookstores of all time - Murder By the Book in Houston, Texas.
They have a great web site - lots of information, lists of books, gifts,
etc.  You can purchase from them by email.  They stock about 25,000
mystery and detective stories - new, used, collector's items,
autographed, etc. - and sometimes I think that the people who work there
have read every single one.  They know everything!  No, they're not
paying me and I'm not a total mystery/detective freak - but I love going
to this store!  Give them a try!

The web site is:

        http://www.neosoft.com/~mrdrbybk

Here are their top ten hardback and softback bestsellers for 1996:

Hardbacks:

        1.   Cadillac Jukebox - by James Lee Burke
        2.   Requiem for a Glass Heart - by David Lindsey
        3.   The Main Corpse - by Diane Mott Davidson
        4.   Sunset Express - by Robert Crais
        5.   The Rosewood Casket - by Sharyn McCrumb
        6.   Biggie and the Poisoned Politician - by Nancy Bell
        7.   Cast in Stone - by G. M. Ford
        8.   Laws of Our Fathers - by Scott Turow
        9.   Captiva - by Randy Wayne White
        10.  The Poet - by Michael Connelly

Paperbacks:

        1.   Promises of Home - by Jeff Abbott (I read his first two
             books - the hero is a librarian!  I don't know if the character
             continues through all subsequent books.)
        2.   Distant Blood - by Jeff Abbott
        3.   If Wishes Were Horses - by Tim Hemlin
        4.   By a Woman's Hand: Second Edition - by Jean Swanson
             and Dean James (Nonfiction -  great reference book on women
             mystery writers - Dean James is the store manager.)
        5.   Lamb to the Slaughter - by Jennifer Rowe
        6.   Dangerous Attachments - by Sarah Lovett
        7.   Do Unto Others - by Jeff Abbott (the first of his books)
        8.   The Beekeeper's Apprentice - by Lauie King
        TIE  Murder on a Girl's Night Out - by Anne George
             A Drink Before the War - by Dennis Lehane

Diane Durbin
dianed@tenet.edu