Southern California Rating:FICTION1. BLACK NOTICE by...

Southern California Rating:

FICTION

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

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 2

2. ULTIMATE JUSTICE by Mimi Latt (Simon & Schuster: $24) An idealistic attorney investigates a 20-year-old murder and finds new evidence implicating her father.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

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

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 10

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: 3; Weeks on List: 12

5. 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: 2; Weeks on List: 15

6. 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: 5; Weeks on List: 12

7. JUPITER’S BONES by Faye Kellerman (William Morrow: $25) The 11th Peter Decker-Rina Lazarus mystery explores a cult whose leader has died of a suspicious drug overdose.

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: 20

9. 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: 11; Weeks on List: 2

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

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 9

11. 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: 13; Weeks on List: 2

12. 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: 22

13. GRANNY DAN by Danielle Steel (Delacorte: $19.95) A young ballerina recovers from a deadly illness in the summer palace of the czars.

Last Week: 14; Weeks on List: 4

14. 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: 1

15. FOR THE RELIEF OF UNBEARABLE URGES by Nathan Englander (Knopf: $22) Stories that explore identity and obligation from Berkeley to the Soviet Union.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 7

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: 83

2. 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: 3; Weeks on List: 37

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

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

4. 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: 2

5. 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: 4; Weeks on List: 9

6. 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: 10; Weeks on List: 17

7. 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: --; Weeks on List: 1

8. THE MAJORS by John Feinstein (Little, Brown: $25) The quest for golfing greatness in four prestigious events: the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and the PGA.

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 11

9. 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: 14; Weeks on List: 3

10. 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: 5; Weeks on List: 13

11. 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: 9; Weeks on List: 3

12. 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: 11; Weeks on List: 7

13. WRITING IN FLOW by Susan Perry (Writers Digest Books: $19.99) Interviews with 76 writers about the ways in which they overcome the intimidation of facing a blank page.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

14. ELEANOR ROOSEVELT by Blanche Wiesen Cook (Viking: $34.95) A privileged ugly duckling becomes a socially conscious swan during the years 1933 to 1938.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 5

15. 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: --; Weeks on List: 1

PAPERBACKS

FICTION

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

2. ISABEL’S BED by Elinor Lipman (Pocket Books: $5.99) A lovelorn woman finds consolation as a ghostwriter.

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

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

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

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

7. TELL ME YOUR DREAMS by Sidney Sheldon (Warner: $7.99) A computer whiz heroine in Silicon Valley is being stalked.

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

9. BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY by Helen Fielding (Penguin: $12.95) A thirtysomething deals with love.

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

PAPERBACKS

NONFICTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT by Dave Stern (Onyx Books: $12.95) A companion book to the spooky film.

8. BEST AMERICAN SPORTS WRITING OF THE CENTURY edited by David Halberstam (Houghton Mifflin: $18) Rah-rah-rah!

9. SINS OF THE CITY by Jim Heimann (Chronicle Books: $18.95) L.A. noir photographs from the ‘20s to the ‘50s.

10. THE ECOLOGY OF FEAR by Mike Davis (Vintage: $14) How poor urban planning has put L.A. in harm’s way.

*

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.