Fiction”M” IS FOR MALICE by Sue Grafton....

Fiction

“M” IS FOR MALICE by Sue Grafton. (Henry Holt: $25.) Jealousy among the heirs to a fortune ends in murder, and it’s up to Kinsey Millhone to nab the culprit (2). Southern California ranking: 1; Last Weeks: 2; Week on List: 2

THE LAWS OF OUR FATHERS by Scott Turow. (Farrar Straus & Giroux: $26.95.) Lives of some 1960s idealists, now 1990s cynics, converge after the murder of a senator’s ex-wife (3)*. Southern California ranking: 2; Last Weeks: 3; Week on List: 4

THE TAILOR OF PANAMA by John le Carre. (Alfred A. Knopf: $25.) Clothier to Central America’s elite turns British agent for the power and the money (4)*. Southern California ranking: 3; Last Weeks: 1; Week on List: 4

THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN by Jacquelyn Mitchard. (Viking: $23.95.) A child’s vanishing and the cruel aftershock felt by his family (1). Southern California ranking: 4; Last Weeks: 4; Week on List: 8

THE THIRD TWIN by Ken Follett. (Crown: $25.95.) A researcher stumbles onto a right-wing plot to reshape American society using genetics (6). Southern California ranking: 5; Last Weeks: 5; Week on List: 2

SILENT HONOR by Danielle Steel. (Delacorte: $24.95.) A successful Japanese family’s world is overturned by World War Two and the struggle to survive in a relocation center. Southern California ranking: 6; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 1

DESPERATION by Stephen King. (Viking: $27.95.) A demonic cop crosses paths with a writer and a telepathic child (5)*. Southern California ranking: 7; Last Weeks: 7; Week on List: 7

MY GAL SUNDAY by Mary Higgins Clark. (Simon & Schuster: $23.) A collection of political mysteries solved by a husband and wife with government credentials (7). Southern California ranking: 8; Last Weeks: 9; Week on List: 2

THE YELLOW ADMIRAL by Patrick O’Brian. (W.W. Norton: $24.) Landlocked Aubrey regains his sea legs and dodges that greatest threat to adventure--peace in 1814 Europe (12). Southern California ranking: 9; Last Weeks: 6; Week on List: 3

THE LAST THING HE WANTED by Joan Didion. (Alfred A. Knopf: $23.) A journalist turns sacrificial lamb in Central America*. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Weeks: 10; Week on List: 8

Nonfiction

THE ZONE by Barry Sears with Bill Lawren. (HarperCollins/ReganBooks: $22.) (3)*. Southern California ranking: 1; Last Weeks: 6; Week on List: 36

CINDY CRAWFORD’S BASIC FACE: A Makeup Workbook by Cindy Crawford. (Broadway: $25.) (8). Southern California ranking: 2; Last Weeks: 1; Week on List: 2

THE SOUL’S CODE: In Search of Character and Calling by James Hillman. (Random House: $23) How every human carries a blueprint for a unique identity (1). Southern California ranking: 3; Last Weeks: 5; Week on List: 2

MY DARK PLACES: An L.A. Crime Memoir by James Ellroy. (Alfred A. Knopf: $25.) The writer’s exhaustive search for answers to his mother’s murder in 1958. Southern California ranking: 4; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 1

AMERICAN TRAGEDY: The Uncensored Story of the Simpson Defense by Lawrence Schiller and James Willwerth. (Random House: $27.50) (4). Southern California ranking: 5; Last Weeks: 2; Week on List: 3

MAKE THE CONNECTION: Ten Steps to a Better Body and a Better Life by Bob Greene and Oprah Winfrey. (Hyperion: $18.95.) (2)*. Southern California ranking: 6; Last Weeks: 8; Week on List: 9

HELLO, HE LIED: And Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches by Lynda Obst. (Little, Brown: $23.95). Southern California ranking: 7; Last Weeks: 3; Week on List: 10

MEN ARE FROM MARS: Women Are From Venus by John Gray, PhD. (HarperCollins: $23.) (5)*. Southern California ranking: 8; Last Weeks: 9; Week on List: 135

REWRITES by Neil Simon. (Simon & Schuster: $25.). Southern California ranking: 9; Last Weeks: 7; Week on List: 6

MY SERGEI: A Love Story by Ekaterina Gordeeva with E.M. Swift. (Warner: $18.95.) The romance and tragedy of Olympic ice-skating’s Romeo and Juliet (13). Southern California ranking: 10; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 1

Paperbacks: FICTION

1. SLEEPERS by Lorenzo Carcaterra. (Ballantine: $6.99.)

2. THE ENGLISH PATIENT by Michael Ondaatje. (Vintage: $11.)

3. THE HORSE WHISPERER by Nicholas Evans. (Dell: $6.99.)*

4. SONG OF SOLOMON by Toni Morrison. (Plume: $11.95.)

5. THE HUNDRED SECRET SENSES by Amy Tan. (Ballantine: $6.99.)

Paperbacks: NONFICTION

1. THE RULES: Time-Tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider. (Warner: $14.95.)

2. DEAR PREZ, I WANNA TELL YA!: Bob Hope’s Presidential Jokebook edited by Ward Grant. (General Publishing: $14.95.)

3. IT’S A MAGICAL WORLD: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection by Bill Watterson. (Andrews & McMeel: $14.95.)

4. DR. ATKINS’ NEW DIET REVOLUTION by Robert C. Atkins. (M. Evans: $12.95.)

5. VIEW WITH A GRAIN OF SAND by Wislawa Szymborska. (Harcourt Brace and Company: $12.)

Rankings based on Times’ poll of local bookstores. National hardcover rankings (in parentheses) are those of Publishers Weekly. Asterisk (*) indicates book also available on audio (source: Sound Audio Books Distributing, Agoura Hills).