BESTSELLERS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST

*--*

*--* 1 Trace by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: $26.95) Medical 10 2 examiner Kay Scarpetta is called back to Richmond, Va., to help her former colleagues determine what killed a 14-year-old girl.

2 Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke 4 3 (Bloomsbury: $27.95) A reclusive magician teams with a risk-taking younger man to delve into England’s magical past.

3 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $24.95) A 1 78 Louvre curator’s killing leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide.

4 Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf: $24.95) A shady 5 9 Florida marine biologist thinks he’s offed his wife, but she’s only playing dead as she plots her revenge.

5 The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason 2 18 (Dial: $24) Four Princeton roommates use clues from a 15th century manuscript to find a buried Roman treasure.

6 The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom 3 51 (Hyperion: $19.95) An amusement park maintenance man faces his life, death and afterlife in this three-part parable.

7 The Inner Circle by T.C. Boyle (Viking: $25.95) An -- 1 assistant to zoology professor Alfred Kinsey becomes immersed in an inner circle of researchers participating in sexual experiments.

8 Snow by Orhan Pamuk (Alfred A. Knopf: $26) A Turkish poet 13 4 returning from exile in Germany finds himself caught in a society torn between secular and religious forces.

9 The Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips (Random House: -- 1 $24.95) A detective trails a 1920s scholar who is trying to find a pharaoh’s tomb after unearthing the king’s erotic verses.

10 Star by Pamela Anderson (Atria: $24) Star Wood Leigh -- 5 works by day at a salon and by night at a steak and oyster house, until her fresh face and tight T-shirt land her on the cover of a national magazine.

11 When the Nines Roll Over by David Benioff (Viking: -- 1 $23.95) Eight short stories explore the reality of the American urban male on the edge of discovery and loss, agony and delight.

12 Murder List by Julie Garwood (Ballantine: $25.95) A 7 3 Chicago detective guards a hotel heiress who fears for her life when people whose names she wrote on a pretend “cleansing” list turn up dead.

13 Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (Atria: $19.95) A Harvard 11 36 scholar uncovers a vendetta against the Roman Catholic Church by a secret society known as the Illuminati.

14 Dune: The Battle of Corrin by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. -- 3 Anderson (Tor Books: $27.95) Humans and “thinking machines” battle it out in this prequel to “Dune.”

15 Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes (Miramax: $23.95) Botoxed, -- 20 peeled and tanned to kill, Park Avenue princesses search for an ATM (rich boyfriend) or a P.H. (potential husband).

*--*

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST

*--*

*--* 1 Unfit for Command by John E. O’Neill and Jerome R. Corsi 1 5 (Regnery: $27.95) Vietnam vets accuse presidential nominee John F. Kerry of misdeeds regarding his wartime service.

2 Confessions of an Heiress by Paris Hilton (Fireside: $22) 14 2 The do’s and don’ts of beauty, fashion, etiquette -- and life in general -- from the hotel-chain heiress, model and current it-girl.

3 Bushworld: Enter at Your Own Risk by Maureen Dowd 2 6 (Putnam: $25.95) A decade of the New York Times op-ed columnist’s collected works, especially those on Bush pere and fils.

4 Skywriting by Jane Pauley (Random House: $25.95) The TV 7 3 newsmagazine’s golden girl explores the ups and downs of a remarkable career, her roots in the heartland and how she redefined herself at midlife.

5 Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss (Gotham: $17.50) A 3 22 British novelist and journalist offers her zero-tolerance approach to bad punctuation, drawn from her pioneering BBC series.

6 How to Make Love Like a Porn Star by Jenna Jameson with 8 4 Neil Strauss (ReganBooks: $27.95) The adult-movie queen tells how a sexual assault propelled her into a life of porn and drugs.

7 The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren (Zondervan: 12 80 $19.99) How the “God ordained” principles of worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism bring fulfillment.

8 Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris 4 16 (Little, Brown: $24.95) Popular humorist recounts childhood experiences with his delightfully dysfunctional family.

9 In the Shadow of No Towers by Art Spiegelman (Pantheon: -- 1 $19.95) In cartoon format, a chain-smoking Manhattan pessimist is convinced that the world ended with the Sept. 11 attacks.

10 American Soldier by Tommy Franks with Malcolm McConnell 6 7 (ReganBooks: $27.95) The former commander in chief of the U.S. Central Command gives an inside look at the war on terror.

11 My Life by Bill Clinton (Knopf: $35) The former 5 13 president’s memoirs, from his Arkansas childhood through the highs and lows of his two terms in the White House.

12 Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon: $17.95) In a 13 2 sequel to her comic-book memoir, a young woman returning to Iran tests ideas of freedom in a fundamentalist society.

13 Running on Empty by Peter G. Peterson (Farrar, Straus and -- 2 Giroux: $24) The former Commerce secretary warns that increased spending and growing debt mean calamity for the economy.

14 The Power of Intention by Wayne W. Dyer (Hay House: -- 20 $24.95) How to spark creativity and get the life you want by drawing on a field of energy that exists all around us.

15 Schott’s Food and Drink Miscellany by Ben Schott -- 1 (Bloomsbury: $14.95) A compendium of food history, cooking terms, cocktail recipes and dining etiquette for wine drinkers and gastronomes.

*--*