FictionTHE ANGEL OF DARKNESS by Caleb Carr...

Fiction

THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS by Caleb Carr (Random House: $25.95) The alienist Kreizler faces a serial killer in old New York. Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 2

UNDERWORLD by Don DeLillo (Scribner: $27.50) Coming of age in the Cold War and beyond. Reviewed by Richard Eder, Page 2. Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 3

COLD MOUNTAIN by Charles Frazier (Atlantic Monthly: $24) A Confederate soldier quits the Civil War and heads home. Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 13

THE BEST LAID PLANS by Sidney Sheldon (Morrow: $25) A political dreamer meets a sexy schemer. Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 3

FLOOD TIDE by Clive Cussler (Simon & Schuster: $26) Hero Dirk Pitt faces a madman with a worldwide slave trade. Southern California ranking: 5; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS by Arundhati Roy (Random House: $23) The rise and fall of a South Indian family. Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 13

UNNATURAL EXPOSURE by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: $25.95) A serial killer returns, leaving clues for Kay Scarpetta in cyberspace. Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 9

PLUM ISLAND by Nelson DeMille (Warner: $25) Convalescing in a fishing town, a New York cop links local lore with two deaths. Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 17

LARRY’S PARTY by Carol Shields (Viking: $22.95) A late-20th century guy has a fin de siecle ‘tude. Southern California ranking: 9; Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 4

A CUP OF TEA by Amy Ephron (Morrow: $20) Romance amid the drawing rooms of New York high society right before World War I. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 4

Nonfiction

THE ROYALS by Kitty Kelley (Simon & Schuster: $27) Applying a wrecking ball to the House of Windsor. Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

THE PERFECT STORM: A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Sebastian Junger (Norton: $23.95) An account of fishermen trapped in the awesome fury of a storm. Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 14

ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt (Scribner: $24) A bittersweet Irish childhood. Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 48

POUR YOUR HEART INTO IT: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time by Howard Schultz and Dori Jones Yang (Hyperion: $24.95) Making dough with a cuppa joe. Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD, BOOK ONE by Neale Donald Walsch (Putnam: $19.95) Channeling Mr. Big. Southern California ranking: 5; Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 22

THE MAN WHO LISTENS TO HORSES by Monty Roberts with Lucy Grealy (Random House: $23) Turning wild horses into pussycats. Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 6

KILLER INSTINCT: How Two Young Producers Took on Hollywood and Made the Most Controversial Film of the Decade by Jane Hamsher (Broadway Books: $25) The story behind Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers.” Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 3

INTO THIN AIR: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer (Villard: $24) Risk and recklessness on a mountaintop. Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 22

THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko (Longstreet: $22) Lives of the rich and fearless. Southern California ranking: 9; Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 8

MARCUS by Marcus Allen with Carlton Stowers (St. Martin’s: $24.95) The triumphs and tabloid controversies of a football hero. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

Paperbacks: FICTION

1. A THOUSAND ACRES by Jane Smiley (Ivy Books: $7.50)

2. THE FALLEN MAN by Tony Hillerman (HarperPaperbacks: $6.99)

3. L.A. CONFIDENTIAL by James Ellroy (Warner: $12.99)

4. CAUSE OF DEATH by Patricia Cornwell (Berkley: $7.50)

5. SILENT HONOR by Danielle Steel (Dell: $7.50)

Paperbacks: NONFICTION

1. DIANA: Her True Story by Andrew Morton (Pocket: $7.50)

2. DIANA: Her New Life by Andrew Morton (Pocket: $6.99)

3. HELLO, HE LIED: And Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches by Lynda Obst (Broadway Books: $13)

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

5. L.A. BIZARRO by Anthony Lovett and Matt Maranian (A Buzz Book/St. Martin’s: $16.95)

Rankings are based on a Times’ poll of Southland bookstores.