FictionUNNATURAL EXPOSURE by Patricia Cornwell. (Putnam: $25.95)....

Fiction

UNNATURAL EXPOSURE by Patricia Cornwell. (Putnam: $25.95). A serial killer returns, leaving a trail of clues for Kay Scarpetta in cyberspace (1). Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 2

COLD MOUNTAIN by Charles Frazier. (Atlantic Monthly: $24). A confederate soldier abandons the Civil War and takes a long walk home (11). Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 5

PLUM ISLAND by Nelson DeMille. (Warner: $25). Convalescing in a fishing town, a New York cop links local lore with two deaths (3). Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 9

CHASING CEZANNE by Peter Mayle. (Knopf: $23). An art theft on the Co^te d’Azur plunges a photographer into the world of the super chic (10). Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 9

WOMEN WITH MEN by Richard Ford. (Knopf: $23). Our reviewer, Jonathan Levi, said the novella “Occidental” in this collection is “as rich a moral fable as the finest novellas of this century.” Southern California ranking: 5; Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 2

SPECIAL DELIVERY by Danielle Steel. (Delacorte: $16.95). Two Beverly Hills in-laws become Romeo and Juliet Sr. (2). Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 4

DECEPTION ON HIS MIND by Elizabeth George. (Bantam: $24.95). An immigrant’s murder aggravates racial tensions in an English seacoast town (6). Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 4

THE PARTNER by John Grisham. (Doubleday: $26.95). A lawyer takes the money and runs (4). Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 22

LONDON by Edward Rutherfurd. (Crown: $25.95). From ancient times to the present, London’s history is told through the lives of six families (9). Southern California ranking: 9; Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 8

INVENTING MEMORY by Erica Jong. (HarperCollins: $22). Four generations of women with no fear of flying. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

Nonfiction

ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt. (Scribner: $24). Bittersweet memories of an Irish childhood (1). Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 40

INTO THIN AIR: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer. (Villard: $24) (4). Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 14

THE BIBLE CODE by Michael Drosnin. (Simon & Schuster: $25). Our reviewer, Michael Shermer, called the book “not only an insult to science and to those who are deeply religious, it is also an insult to God.” (2). Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 7

THE GIFT OF FEAR: Listening to the Intuition that Protects Us from Danger by Gavin De Becker. (Little, Brown: $22.95). Coping with societal violence (9). Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 5

CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD, BOOK ONE by Neale Donald Walsch. (Putnam: $19.95) (7). Southern California ranking: 5; Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 14

THE PERFECT STORM by Sebastian Junger. (Norton: $23.95). Our reviewer, Richard Ellis, said the book “brilliantly captures the awesome power of the raging sea” (10). Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 6

THE KILLING SEASON: A Summer Inside an LAPD Homicide Division by Miles Corwin. (Simon & Schuster: $23). Our reviewer, Jerome H. Skolnick, called it a “grab-you-by-the-throat page turner” and “a serious book for those who want to comprehend the disheartening dilemmas contemporary inner-city crime poses for law enforcement.” Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

MARS AND VENUS ON A DATE by John Gray. (HarperCollins: $25). Keep the love light shining (12). Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

SIMPLE ABUNDANCE: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach. (Warner: $17.95) (3). Southern California ranking: 9; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 33

THE RELUCTANT METROPOLIS: The Politics of Urban Growth in Los Angeles by William Fulton. (Solano Press: $28.95). Eleven essays explore L.A.’s development as an “anti-city.” Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

Paperbacks: FICTION

1. EXECUTIVE ORDERS by Tom Clancy. (Berkley: $7.99)

2. CONTACT by Carl Sagan. (Pocket: $6.99)

3. THE THIRD TWIN by Ken Follett. (Fawcett Crest: $7.99)

4. OUT OF SIGHT by Elmore Leonard. (Dell: $6.99)

5. MARTIN DRESSLER by Steven Millhauser. (Vintage: $12)

Paperbacks: NONFICTION

1. DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF by Richard Carlson. (Hyperion: $8.95)

2. ZAGAT SURVEY 1997 LOS ANGELES/SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT GUIDE by Merrill Shindler and Karen Berk. (Zagat: $10.95)

3. CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE TEENAGE SOUL by Jack Canfield, Mark Hansen and Kimberly Kirberger. (Health Communications: $12.95)

4. THE COLOR OF WATER by James McBride. (Riverhead: $12)

5. THE ARTIST’S WAY by Julia Cameron. (Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam: $13.95)

Based on Times’ poll of local bookstores. National rankings (in parentheses) are from Publishers Weekly.