That's what Claire Bott at Publishing News thinks, if only because trends come in threes and this one does, in the form of Alexander McCall Smith's next installment of 44 SCOTLAND STREET, Ronan Bennett's ZUZWANG (currently serialized in the Guardian/Observer with pending release in book format by Bloomsbury) and Patricia Cornwell's AT RISK in the New York Times' Funny Pages.

Jessica Williamson, Time Warner Marketing Manager, told PN: "It's that soap opera nature of it. People are always going to be hooked on that what's-going-to-happen-next? thing, and with someone like Patricia Cornwell, she's so good at creating tension that she’s a perfect writer for that kind of project." The McCall Smith, she adds, appeals to a different tendency. "There's a lovely episodic feel to the work. People love that familiarity, getting to know the characters as they would with EastEnders or Coronation Street."