Southern California Rating:FICTION1 DARK LADY by...

Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1 DARK LADY by Richard North Patterson (Alfred A. Knopf: $25.95) Murder in a cold Midwestern town, where various interests lock horns over a proposed baseball stadium.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

2 BLACK NOTICE by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: $25.95) Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta hunts fortop-secret information in a Paris morgue after a corpse is discovered in a cargo ship.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 4

3 WHITE OLEANDER by Janet Fitch (Little, Brown: $24) When a woman murders her lover, her daughter must learn to face womanhood in a foster home.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 17

4 THE GIRLS’ GUIDE TO HUNTING AND FISHING by Melissa Bank (Viking: $23.95) As a modern girl grows up looking for love, to whom should she turn?

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 14

5 MOTHER OF PEARL by Melinda Haynes (Hyperion: $23.95) A story of friendship across racial lines and the tragic struggles of private citizens in a 1950s Southern town.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 11

6 HANNIBAL by Thomas Harris (Delacorte: $27.95) The cleverly repulsive sequel to “The Silence of the Lambs” features the villainous hero Hannibal the Cannibal.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 12

7 ASSASSINS by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye (Tyndale House: $19.99) The newest installment in the “Left Behind” series focuses on a plot to kill the Antichrist.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 2

8 THE HOURS by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $22) A haunting triptych of stories structured around Virginia Woolf’s novel “Mrs. Dalloway.”

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 22

9 NIGHTMARE TOWN by Dashiell Hammett (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) Twenty previously out-of-print stories featuring Sam Spade and other hard-boiled detectives by the noir master.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

10 THE EDGE by Catherine Coulter (Putnam: $22.95) An FBI agent’s psychic experiences cause him to investigate his sister’s near-fatal plunge from a cliff.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 4

11 FLEUR DE LEIGH’S LIFE OF CRIME by Diane Leslie (Simon & Schuster: $23) A Hollywood “Upstairs, Downstairs” about a poor little rich girl and her L.A. childhood.

Last Week: 13; Weeks on List: 14

12 BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES OF THE CENTURY edited by Katrina Kenison and John Updike (Houghton Mifflin: $28) Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather, Raymond Carver and Co.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 18

13 A CERTAIN AGE by Tama Janowitz (Doubleday: $23.95) An attractive single woman seeks entry into the circles of New York’s elite society but finds scandal instead.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 3

14 THE TESTAMENT by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) The 10th richest man in the United States has died, and his greedy heirs are circling like hungry vultures.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 23

15 THE DEVIL’S TEARDROP by Jeffery Deaver (Simon & Schuster: $25) An FBI handwriting expert hunts a brilliant killer with sinister plans on the last night of the 20th century.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

NONFICTION

1 TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE by Mitch Albom (Doubleday: $19.95) A sportswriter’s empowering story about his weekly visits to see an older dying friend.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 85

2 DIANA IN SEARCH OF HERSELF by Sally Bedell Smith (Times Books: $25) From birth to death, the princess struggled to remake her self-image, right up to the fatal ’97 car crash.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 2

3 THE GREATEST GENERATION by Tom Brokaw (Random House: $24.95) TV anchor tells the stories of the generation that came of age during the Depression and World War II.

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 39

4 ETHICS FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM by The Dalai Lama (Riverhead Books: $24.95) Tibetan Buddhism’s leading voice presents a road-map for achieving a global spiritual revolution.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

5 THE OTHER SIDE AND BACK by Sylvia Browne (Dutton: $23.95) The author of “Adventures of a Psychic” explores the existence of angels, ghosts and the afterlife.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 3

6 BLIND EYE by James B. Stewart (Simon & Schuster: $25) An account of a convicted felon, suspected of murdering dozens of patients, who was still allowed to practice medicine.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 2

7 MAKING LOSS MATTER by David Wolpe (Riverhead Books: $23.95) Making ancient scriptures like the Talmud and the Bible relevant in coping with loss.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

8 THE HUNGRY OCEAN by Linda Greenlaw (Little, Brown: $22.95) A chronicle of a monthlong fishing trip by the world’s only female swordfish boat captain.

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 5

9 BILL AND HILLARY by Christopher Andersen (William Morrow: $27.50) Gossip about the first family, including plenty of lurid tales about the president’s sexual antics.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 4

10 I AIN’T GOT TIME TO BLEED by Jesse Ventura (Villard: $19.95) The story of a Minnesota governor: How a wrestler with a body beautiful became a leader of the body politic.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 9

11 ENCORE PROVENCE by Peter Mayle (Alfred A. Knopf: $23) A return to southern France prompts memories of good times and a critique of American culture.

Last Week: 13; Weeks on List: 15

12 BELLA TUSCANY by Frances Mayes (Broadway: $25) Rich, colorful stories of cuisine and Italian life in the villages by the author of “Under the Tuscan Sun.”

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 19

13 SHADOW by Bob Woodward (Simon & Schuster: $27.50) The impact of Watergate on the White House, from Ford to Clinton, by a front-line reporter.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 11

14 THE FIRST WORLD WAR by John Keegan (Alfred A. Knopf: $35) A panoramic portrayal of the Great War exploring the hearts and minds of its leaders and their soldiers.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 5

15 BETWEEN SILK AND CYANIDE by Leo Marks (The Free Press: $27.50) The memoirs of a code maker and breaker who served in British Intelligence during World War II.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 3

PAPERBACKS

FICTION

1 MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA by Arthur Golden (Vintage: $14) The life and loves of a teahouse entertainer in Kyoto.

2 THE PILOT’S WIFE by Anita Shreve (Little, Brown: $13.95) A woman’s disturbing discoveries after a fatal plane crash

3 THE READER by Bernhard Schlink (Vintage: $11) A boyhood fling with an older woman and its aftermath.

4 SUMMER SISTERS by Judy Blume (Dell: $7.50) An unlikely friendship blossoms between two girls.

5 RAINBOW SIX by Tom Clancy (Berkley: $8.50) Handpicked secret agents use deadly force against terrorists

6 DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD by Rebecca Wells (HarperPerennial: $13) Sisterhood in the South.

7 I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE by Wally Lamb (ReganBooks: $16) A troubled man searches for self-acceptance

8 A WIDOW FOR ONE YEAR by John Irving (Ballantine: $14.95) A Dickensian story of a woman with great expectations.

9 POINT OF ORIGIN by Patricia Cornwell (Berkeley: $7.99) Kay Scarpetta gets a threatening note from a psychotic killer.

10 KAATERSKILL FALLS by Allegra Goodman (Delta: $12.95) Faith and custom in a tight-knit Jewish family.

PAPERBACKS

NONFICTION

1 ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt (Touchstone: $14) Overcoming an Irish childhood during the Depression.

2 THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN by Simon Winchester (HarperPerennnial: $13) A madman with a flair for words.

3 SEAT OF THE SOUL by Gary Zukav (Fireside: $13) The inward transformation of the human soul.

4 GUNS, GERMS AND STEEL by Jared Diamond (W.W. Norton: $14.95) The part played by this triad in history.

5 THE GIFTS OF THE JEWS by Thomas Cahill (Anchor Books: $14) How a group of desert nomads changed the world.

6 MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL by John Berendt (Vintage: $12) A story of Savannah’s colorful eccentrics.

7 UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN by Frances Mayes (Broadway: $13) Restoring a cozy home in a glorious Italian landscape.

8 A WALK IN THE WOODS by Bill Bryson (Broadway: $13) A funny memoir and a meditation on American wilderness.

9 THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko (Pocket: $14) Secrets of the wealthy.

10 WE WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT TOMORROW WE WILL BE KILLED WITH OUR FAMILIES by Philip Gourevitch (Picador: $15)

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.