FICTIONPLUM ISLAND by Nelson DeMille. (Warner: $25.)...

FICTION

PLUM ISLAND by Nelson DeMille. (Warner: $25.) Convalescing in a fishing town, a New York cop links local lore with two deaths.(1). Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 3

****

MASON & DIXON by Thomas Pynchon. (Henry Holt: $27.50.) Our reviewer, Ted Mooney, called the novel “remarkable” in its vision of “a wilderness America, peopled as much by European hopes and longings as by the interlocking kingdoms of the indigenous.”(6). Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 7

****

CHASING CEZANNE by Peter Mayle. (Knopf: $23.) An art theft on the Cote d’Azur plunges a photographer into the world of the super chic. (12). Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 3

****

THE PARTNER by John Grisham. (Doubleday: $26.95.) A lawyer takes the money and runs.(2). Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 16

LONDON by Edward Rutherfurd. (Crown: $25.95.) From its ancient origins to the present, London’s history is told through the lives of six families.(5). Southern California ranking: 5; Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 2

****

GUIDE by Dennis Cooper. (Grove Press: $22.) Our reviewer, Gary Indiana, said Cooper “conjures his human wreckage revue with wildly flexible, intimate prose that offers occasional flashes of the author at his desk, a la Jean Genet.” Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

****

THE ACTUAL by Saul Bellow. (Viking: $17.95.) “A complex tale,” said our reviewer, Martin Amis, “ranging emotional urgencies against material powers in present-day Chicago.”. Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 4

****

KOWLOON TONG by Paul Theroux. (Houghton Mifflin: $23.) The colonial views of a genteel mother and son are threatened in the last year of British rule in Hong Kong.. Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

****

PRETEND YOU DON’T SEE HER by Mary Higgins Clark. (Simon & Schuster: $25.) A new identity won’t protect a murder witness.(3). Southern California ranking: 9; Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 9

****

AMERICAN PASTORAL by Philip Roth. (Houghton Mifflin: $26.) Richard Eder, The Times’ book critic, wrote that this novel “scintillates with more Rothian wit, paradox . . . than can be counted.”. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 8

****

NONFICTION

INTO THIN AIR: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer. (Villard: $24.) (1). Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 8

****

ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt. (Scribner: $24.) Bittersweet memories of an Irish childhood. (2). Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 34

****

OVITZ: The Inside Story of Hollywood’s Most Controversial Power Broker by Robert Slater. (McGraw-Hill: $22.95.). Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 4

****

WITHOUT A DOUBT by Marcia Clark with Teresa Carpenter. (Viking: $25.95.) More on the Simpson trial melodrama.(3). Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 6

****

THE BIBLE CODE by Michael Drosnin. (Simon & Schuster: $25.) An account of hidden prophetic messages in sacred text.. Southern California ranking: 5; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

****

CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD, BOOK ONE by Neale Donald Walsch. (Putnam: $19.95.)(7). Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 10

****

BRAIN DROPPINGS by George Carlin. (Hyperion: $19.95.) A wry look at modern life and the silliness of human behavior.. Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 3

****

THE PERFECT STORM by Sebastian Junger. (Norton: $23.95.) Our reviewer, Richard Ellis, said the book “is a wild ride that brilliantly captures the awesome power of the raging sea and the often futile attempts of humans to withstand it.”. Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

****

NEWS OF A KIDNAPPING by Gabriel Garci Marquez. (Knopf: $25.) Our reviewer, Michael Massing, wrote that “Garcia Marquez has a good story to tell, and he applies his impressive narrative skills with verve.” . Southern California ranking: 9; Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 2

****

FAST FORWARD: Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood by Lauren Greenfield. (Knopf/Melcher Media: $35.) A photography collection showing kids “obsessed with money, the flaunting of it, the spending of it, the grubbing for it,” said our reviewer, Richard Rayner.. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

Paperbacks

FICTION

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

2. BIRDSONG by Sebastian Faulks. (Vintage: $13.)

3. ROSE by Martin Cruz Smith. (Ballantine: $12.50.)

4. SHE’S COME UNDONE by Wally Lamb. (Pocket: $14.)

5. THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN by Jacquelyn Mitchard. (Signet: $7.50)

****

NONFICTION

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

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

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

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

5. THE ART BOOK (Phaidon Press: $9.95.)

Rankings based on Times’ poll of local bookstores. National hardcover rankings (in parentheses)are those of Publishers Weekly.