Southern California Rating:FICTION1 A DARKNESS MORE THAN...

Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1 A DARKNESS MORE THAN NIGHT by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown: $25.95) A retired FBI agent teams with an LAPD homicide detective to investigate a series of ritual killings.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 2

2 A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT by Terry McMillan (Viking: $25.95) A matriarch, her husband and her children see life--and one another--on their own terms.

Last Week: 13; Weeks on List: 2

3 THE CONSTANT GARDENER by John le Carre (Scribner: $28) A British diplomat quits his Nairobi home and garden to avenge the murder of his wife, who uncovered multinational misdeeds in Kenya.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 8

4 THE BODY ARTIST by Don DeLillo (Scribner: $22) In a ghostly seaside house, an artist encounters a strange, ageless man with an uncanny knowledge of her own life.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 2

5 DEATH BENEFITS by Thomas Perry (Random House: $24.95) Two sleuths probe a case of insurance fraud involving shadowy corporate interests and a conspiracy much older than both realize.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

6 THE FIRST COUNSEL by Brad Meltzer (Warner: $25.95) In love with the president’s daughter, a young White House lawyer uncovers a murder plot that extends to the Oval Office.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 3

7 MYSTIC RIVER by Dennis Lehane (William Morrow: $25) A young girl’s murder in a Massachusetts neighborhood causes three friends to confront the skeletons in their closets.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

8 PRODIGAL SUMMER by Barbara Kingsolver (HarperCollins: $26) In southern Appalachia, three stories of human love intersect within a larger tapestry.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 14

9 THE TIN COLLECTORS by Stephen J. Cannell (St. Martin’s: $24.95) The LAPD’s internal affairs cops discover that corruption reaches all the way to the top in the City of Angels.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

10 FROM THE CORNER OF HIS EYE by Dean Koontz (Bantam: $26.95) A boy born on a day of tragedy and terror finds that the events of his life live up to the remarkable circumstances of his birth.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 4

11 ROSES ARE RED by James Patterson (Little, Brown: $26.95) Alex Cross battles a cunning murderer, nicknamed “Mastermind,” who orchestrates teams of criminals while hiding in the shadows.

Last Week: 14; Weeks on List: 9

12 LOST AND FOUND by Jayne Anne Krentz (Putnam: $23.95) An art consultant and a man in search of stolen Renaissance art find murder--and romance--in the world of antique trading.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

13 PROTECT AND DEFEND by Richard North Patterson (Random House: $26.95) A newly elected president faces the unexpected chance to nominate a new chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 3

14 DEMONOLOGY by Rick Moody (Little, Brown: $24.95) Intricate short stories about troubled people and the powerful force that dead loved ones exert on their lives.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

15 CODE TO ZERO by Ken Follett (Dutton: $26.95) A man wakes up in a train station in Washington, D.C., in 1958 with no idea who he is or how he got there.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 7

NONFICTION

1 WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? by Spencer Johnson (Putnam: $19.95) This co-author of “The One Minute Manager” uses the parable of mice in a maze to show people how to manage change.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 46

2 CONSTANTINE’S SWORD by James Carroll (Houghton Mifflin: $28) A Catholic writer looks at the troubling roots of his church’s 2,000-year relationship with Judaism.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 2

3 DARWIN AWARDS by Wendy Northcutt (Dutton: $16.95) Stupid human tricks: Honoring those who improve our gene pool by eliminating themselves from it.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 8

4 AN HOUR BEFORE DAYLIGHT by Jimmy Carter (Simon & Schuster: $26) Memories of the former president’s boyhood on a Georgia farm during the Great Depression.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 3

5 A SHORT GUIDE TO A HAPPY LIFE by Anna Quindlen (Random House: $12.95) The columnist reflects on what it takes to “get a life” by living deeply rather than merely existing.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 12

6 THE O’REILLY FACTOR by Bill O’Reilly (Broadway Books: $23) The TV pundit pontificates on what he finds to be the good, the bad and the completely ridiculous in American life.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 17

7 ON WRITING by Stephen King (Scribner: $25) Autobiography of the writer’s formative years, from his misbehaving youth to a janitorial stint that led to the idea for “Carrie.”

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 9

8 TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE by Mitch Albom (Doubleday: $19.95) A sportswriter’s story of the life lessons he received during weekly visits to an older dying friend.

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 153

9 VANITY FAIR’S HOLLYWOOD edited by Graydon Carter and David Friend (Viking Studio: $60) Essays, photographs and caricatures portraying the cult of celebrity from 1914 to the present.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 7

10 PARIS TO THE MOON by Adam Gopnik (Random House: $24.95) A personal homage to years spent in the City of Light by a longtime New Yorker writer.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 14

11 MAESTRO by Bob Woodward (Simon & Schuster: $25) Portrait of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who started as a Juilliard-trained sax man and now keeps the U.S. economy in tune.

Last Week: 15; Weeks on List: 10

12 FAST FOOD NATION by Eric Schlosser (Houghton Mifflin: $25) A journalist exposes the fast food industry’s strategies, from meatpacking to the boardroom, to control American consumers.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

13 NOTHING LIKE IT IN THE WORLD by Stephen Ambrose (Simon & Schuster: $28) The historian looks at the building of the transcontinental railroad and its impact on the growth of the nation.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 21

14 YOU’RE FIFTY--NOW WHAT? by Charles R. Schwab (Crown: $24) A well-known financier offers advice on financial topics facing aging Baby Boomers and retirees.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

15 THE CAT WHO COVERED THE WORLD by Christopher S. Wren (Simon & Schuster: $21) The antics of a Siamese cat who traveled with reporter Wren and his family to points around the globe.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

PAPERBACKS

FICTION

1 HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG by Andre Dubus III (Vintage: $14) Two families clash over an auctioned house in this tragic tale.

2 GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING by Tracy Chevalier (Plume: $12) The life of the woman who inspired a famous Vermeer painting.

3 CHOCOLAT by Joanne Harris (Penguin: $12.95) A new chocolate shop arouses French villagers’ desires in the middle of Lent.

4 THE RED TENT by Anita Diamant (Picador USA: $14) The blossoming of Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter, in Genesis.

5 WE WERE THE MULVANEYS by Joyce Carol Oates (Penguin: $13.95) An ideal family’s world is rocked by a daughter’s rape.

6 THE BRETHREN by John Grisham (Dell Island: $7.99) A scam by three former judges doing time goes awry.

7 VOID MOON by Michael Connelly (Warner: $7.99) An ex-con’s in big trouble after ripping off a gambler with mob connections.

8 GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE by Susan Vreeland (Penguin: $12) Eight stories linked by a Dutch master’s painting.

9 WAITING by Ha Jin (Vintage: $13) A legal loophole allows long-separated lovers to be united.

10 HANNIBAL by Thomas Harris (Dell: $7.99) Hannibal Lecter devours his enemies in this “Silence of the Lambs” sequel.

PAPERBACKS

NONFICTION

1 THE GHOSTS OF ECHO PARK by Ron Emler (Echo Park Publishing: $15) A pictorial history of the L.A. neighborhood.

2 BEFORE NIGHT FALLS by Reinaldo Arenas (Viking: $12.95) A Cuban writer’s memoir of political and sexual oppression.

3 THE DEBT by Randall Robinson (NAL: $13) What the U.S. owes to black citizens for years of slavery and segregation.

4 GALILEO’S DAUGHTER by Dava Sobel (Penguin: $14) The famous astronomer and his daughter, a cloistered nun.

5 THE DARK SIDE OF THE LIGHT CHASERS by Debbie Ford (Riverhead: $13) How to reclaim your emotional power.

6 RICH DAD, POOR DAD by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter (Techpress: $15.95) Adventures in fiscal parenting.

7 THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES by Eve Ensler (Villard: $12.95) The award-winning play in book form.

8 OH NO! NOT ANOTHER PROBLEM by Jeanette A. Griver & Michele W. Vodrey (Compsych Systems: $12.95) Solutions for daily life.

9 THE NINE STEPS TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM by Suze Orman (Three Rivers Press: $13.95) Practical tips for managing money.

10 TALKING DIRTY WITH THE QUEEN OF CLEAN by Linda Cobb (Pocket: $8.99) Quick, inexpensive housekeeping tips galore.

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Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.