McDermid’s How the Dead Speak becomes 2020’s first fiction number one

Val McDermid’s How the Dead Speak (Sphere) has knocked Charlie Mackesy’s The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse (Ebury) from the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, with 16,856 copies sold for its first full week on sale. Following a five-week streak in the top spot by Pinch of Nom: Everyday Light (Bluebird) and Mackesy’s illustrated title cantering to the top a week ago, How the Dead Speak is the first fiction number one of the year to date.

The latest Tony Hill and Carol Jordan novel also ended the three-week run of Kate Atkinson’s Big Sky (Black Swan) in the Mass Market Fiction top spot, securing McDermid’s fifth number one in the category chart. Katie Fforde’s A Rose Petal Summer (Arrow) also entered the overall top five, increasing in volume by 47% week on week.

Though last year saw a rise in sales for Michelle Obama‚Äôs Becoming (Viking) over the week of Valentine‚Äôs Day, there was no equivalent bump for a likely gifted title this year—unless book buyers were flocking out to buy the object of their ardour John Bercow‚Äôs memoir Unspeakable (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), which bounded into the Top 50 last week. Sinclair McKay‚Äôs Dresden (Viking), Adam Rutherford‚Äôs How to Argue with a Racist (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) and Paul Krugman‚Äôs Arguing with Zombies (W W Norton) all entered the Hardback Non-Fiction top 20 last week, as The Boy, The Mole‚Ķ held steady at the top.

Marian Keyes’ Grown Ups (Michael Joseph) held the Original Fiction top spot for a second week, as Stacey Halls’ The Foundling (Zaffre) leapfrogged Elly Griffiths’ The Lantern Men (Quercus) to swipe second place. Grown Ups’ trade paperback also entered the chart in sixth place.

Jack Fairweather’s Costa Book of the Year The Volunteer (W H Allen) claimed a fourth week in the Paperback Non-Fiction number one, with Hallie Rubenhold’s The Five (Black Swan) holding firm in second place.

It's hard to remember a time David Walliams and Tony Ross' The Beast of Buckingham Palace (HarperCollins) wasn't the Children's number one, but the Children's Non-Fiction chart has recently become a hotbed of activity. Kate Pankhurst's Fantastically Great Women Who Saved the Planet (Bloomsbury Children's) went straight into the number one last week, defeating the Little People: Big Dreams title David Attenborough (Frances Lincoln Children's).

For the first time in 2020, the print market dropped below £27m, with average selling price sliding to its lowest since August 2019. However, at £8.67, this was still relatively high—and 2.2% up on the same week in 2019.