And yet, this Sept. 11 those tables are far more likely to be dominated by more escapist fare, like "The DaVinci Code," the best-selling mystery centered on a murder at the Louvre, and "The Teeth of the Tiger," a spinoff of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series.

Private investigator Easy is a black hard-boiled detective and World War II veteran living in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, and features in a series of best-selling mysteries set from the 1940s to the 1960s.

The first, due later this month, is "Smilla's Sense of Snow," based on the best-selling Danish mystery by Peter Hoeg, to be followed by "Mrs. Dalloway," an adaptation of the novel by Virginia Woolf, and "Wilde," a biography of Oscar Wilde.

TONY HILLERMAN, Western writer of fiction and nonfiction, author of the best-selling Navajo mysteries featuring the tribal police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, strikes out into dramatically new terrain with "Finding Moon."

And Then There Were None is Christie's best-selling novel with 100 million sales to date, making it the world's best-selling mystery ever, and one of the best-selling books of all time.

He has written a series of best-selling historical mysteries featuring the hard-boiled detective Easy Rawlins, a black private investigator and World War II veteran living in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles; they are perhaps his most popular works.

Tony Hillerman, the author of best-selling mysteries set in the desert Southwest, is to receive a Grand Master Award at the Sheraton Centre Hotel from the Mystery Writers of America.

After all, Mr. Francis, once a champion jockey in Britain, has written a string of best-selling mysteries, most of which check in regularly at the track.

It is Christie's best-selling novel with 100 million sales to date, making it the world's best-selling mystery ever, and one of the best-selling books of all time (Publications International lists it as 7th best-selling).

"I think the reason that I'm getting this award is that I'm 65, I'm 40 pounds overweight and have bags under my eyes," TONY HILLERMAN , the author of best-selling mysteries with Navajo themes, said yesterday.