VJ Books is now shipping signed 1st editions of Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwell.

Persistence pays.  Cornwell‘s first crime novel, Postmortem, was rejected by seven major publishign houses before it was published by Scribner in 1990.  It became the first novel to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony and Macavity awards as well as the French Prix du Roman d’Aventure in a single year.  Lifetime TV has announced forthcoming movie versions of At Risk and its sequel, The Front.

See Patricia Cornwell titles at www.vjbooks.com

(Publisher’s Weekly, June 22)

(Publisher’s Weekly, Mar. 23, by Dermot McEvoy and Michael Coffey )

Familiar voices crowd the top in fiction; in nonfiction, the fundamental rules apply—plus all things Obama

John Grisham‘s aptly titled Appeal had the most of it, as far as the novel-buying reading public went, earning the #1 slot on our hardcover fiction list last year—just enough to beat out the beloved Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski, which sold 1.3 million. Our top 15 fiction titles this year look much like last year’s, with the notable absence of Khaled Hosseini, who was top dog in ’07. The prolific James Patterson racked up three in the top echelon, and Nicholas Sparks, Patricia Cornwell, Dean Koontz and David Baldacci made returns. The new kids on the block, in addition to Wroblewski, were Stephenie Meyer, seamlessly crossing over from the YA genre with The Host, and Glenn Beck, whose Christmas Sweater apparently warmed the hearts of his faithful. (more…)

(Starnewsonline, Ben Steelman, Jan. 22)

As mystery aficionados and regulars at the Cape Fear Crime Festival know, “Jefferson Bass” is a pseudonym for two people.

One is Bill Bass, the legendary forensic anthropologist and creator of the outdoor lab known as “The Body Farm,” made famous by Patricia Cornwell.

The other is Jon Jefferson, a freelance writer for The New York Times and other publications, who collaborated with Bass on his memoirs “Death’s Acre” and “Beyond the Body Farm.” (Jefferson attended the 2007 Crime Festival here in Wilmington.)

The two, as Jefferson Bass, have continued their partnership through a series of “Body Farm” mystery novels, beginning with “Carved in Bone” in 2006.

Their sleuth is Bill Brockton, an anthropology professor at the Univeristy of Tennessee (as Bass was) and head of its Anthropology Research Facility (the Body Farm’s official name). Think Gil Grissom with a Southern accent. (more…)

(metrobostonnews.com, Dec. 9, Dorothy Robinson)

Patricia Cornwell on 20 years of her fictitious crime fighter

Before there was “Bones” “Dr. G: Medical Examiner,” “Dexter,” “Forensic Files,” “CSI,” and the many, many other TV shows revolving around forensics, there was Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta — the heroine of numerous best-selling books by crime writer Patricia Cornwell.

“I’m my own worst enemy,” Cornwell says from her penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park. “I have helped to start this forensic thriller genre, which has spawned this incredible industry, but at times I wonder if it’s going to put me out of business.”

Even though Scarpetta has been a fixture in the contemporary suspense genre for 20 years — way before Horatio Caine was even a twinkle in David Caruso’s eye — Scarpetta is far from going out of  business.
(more…)

(cnn.com, Dec. 15, Jacque Wilson)

When Patricia Cornwell began writing thriller novels, she ruled the world of forensic science.

“I could treat readers in each book to some new aspect that they wouldn’t be familiar with,” Cornwell said.

Now the author is bombarded with “CSI”-like information from every side — from “Bones” to “Forensic Files” to, well, “CSI.”

“It’s like you create this monster and find out it’s living in the house with you, and it’s banished you to a room because it has more power than you,” she said.

Cornwell knew she had to adapt to the changing entertainment climate. “One of the questions I really did ask myself was, ‘What’s the one thing I have no one else does?’ ”

The answer was chief medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, Cornwell’s heroine. Scarpetta is independent, feisty and someone Cornwell knows better than (more…)

(Publisher’s Weekly, Dec. 15)

Patricia Cornwell does more than just pen forensic thrillers.  The author has lent her name to many philanthropic pursuits in the criinal justice arena.  In the last year she donated $1 million each to the Harvard Art Museum for a conservation scientist position and to Jhn jay College of Criminal Justice for a crime scene investimgation academy.  Putnam announced one million copies in print for Scarpetta, the 16th novel featuring the titular medical examiner.  The publisher also produced an original video that featured scenes of Cornwell at a morgue, piloting her helicopter and at her New York City home.

See all signed books by Patricia Cornwell at www.vjbooks.com

(bangkokpost.com, Nov. 16, Roger Crutchley)

The other evening I had just finished polishing off the latest Stephen Leather novel, Dead Men – a decent yarn by the way – and put the book onto the shelf next to the previous work I had read, A Good Day To Die by another British author, Simon Kernic. Next to that rested some other recent reading material, The Dead Place by Stephen Booth.

Now you don’t have to be a super sleuth to figure out a disturbing theme was emerging here – why this obsession about people expiring? A glance along the bookcase and the situation didn’t improve – there facing me was Looking Good Dead by Peter James snugly resting against the sequel, Not Dead Enough.

It got worse. On the top shelf were City of Bones by Michael Connelly and Bones of Silence by Reginald Hill, both of which dealt with, er … bones. Also sitting there was Patricia Cornwell‘s Post Mortem, the subject matter of which hardly requires an explanation. Even the book by the humorous writer (more…)

Hello friends!

2008 was a great year for books.  We had the pleasure of bringing hundreds of new titles to you this year, and introducing you to dozens of new authors.

When it was suggested to make a list of our favorites and give you one last chance to add them to your collection, I found picking titles kind of like choosing between my children! 
 
Of course all your favorites climbed the charts and we were proud to bring you new books by Michael Connelly, Patricia Cornwell, James Patterson, George Pelecanos, Janet Evanovich, Robert Crais, Clive Cussler, Jonathan Kellerman, Gregg Hurwitz, and all the other usual suspects.
 
So we have picked our favorites in ten different catagories.  If you didn’t already pick these up, here’s your last chance to get them, and save 25%.

Looking ahead, we have already ordered titles for the first quarter of ’09.  It promises to be another big year with exciting new authors making their first appearance in our store as well as new books from all the bestselling authors you’ve come to expect at VJ Books.  Take a look at our Upcoming Titles to see what is ahead for 2009.

For now, grab these before they are gone!
 
Good reading,
 
John

Best New Author:  Mark Alpert (Final Theory)
Best New Legal: James Scott Bell (Try Dying)
Best Psychological Thriller:  Alan Jacobson (7th Victim)
Best Political Novel: Eric Van Lustbader (First Daughter)
Best Spy Novel:  Dan Fesperman (The Amateur Spy)
Best Youth Novel: Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry (Science Fair)
Best from the UK: David Hewson (The Garden of Evil)
Best Movie Tie-in: James Rollins (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)
John’s Top Pick: Joe Domenici (Bringing Back the Dead)
Best Anthology: Lee Child (Killer Year)
New Friend of VJ Books:  Iris Johansen (Dark Summer)
Best Translation: Alnauldur Indridason (The Draining Lake)