Or even better still

SELECT a.au_id, title_id

  FROM dbo.titleauthor a WITH (HOLDLOCK, UPDLOCK)

INNER JOIN dbo.authors b ON a.au_id = b.au_id

Which is baiscally the...

Micheal, what would happen if he were to set the TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL TO SERIALIZABLE within the stored procedure? Would that not give him the effect he desires?

I'm curious to know if MAXDOP will produce the same effect as sp_getapplock, which I know does work as advertised. Too why can't we use transaction isolation levels tot serialize...