BESTSELLERS

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

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*--* 1 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $24.95) A 2 60 Louvre curator’s killing leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide.

2 The Narrows by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown: $25.95) 1 4 Harry Bosch struggles against man and nature to capture an FBI profiler’s killer, a serial murderer with a fondness for Edgar Allan Poe.

3 Hidden Prey by John Sandford (Putnam: $26.95) Det. Lucas 4 2 Davenport and a Russian cop investigate the murder of a Russian with high-level U.S. government connections.

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

5 Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes (Miramax: $23.95) Botoxed, 3 8 peeled and tanned-to-kill, Park Avenue princesses search for an ATM (rich boyfriend) or a P.H. (potential husband).

6 The Southern Belles of Honeysuckle Way by Linda 7 5 Bruckheimer (Dutton: $24.95) Three sisters reunite in a Kentucky town for their mother’s 75th birthday.

7 The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom 6 35 (Hyperion: $19.95) An amusement park maintenance man faces his life, death and afterlife in this three-part parable.

8 Little Children by Tom Perrotta (St. Martin’s: $24.95) A 9 6 group of 30ish parents confront their fears and family dysfunction as they raise their suburban offspring.

9 The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith 8 5 (Pantheon: $19.95) Botswana’s favorite detective is hired by a wealthy woman to divine the true intentions of four suitors.

10 The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler (Putnam: -- 2 $23.95) Five women and a man plumb Austen’s novels, revealing their own foibles and reveries along the way.

11 Just One Look by Harlan Coben (Dutton: $25.95) A suburban 14 4 housewife hooks up with a mobster to find her missing husband, who may have been kidnapped by a martial-arts expert.

12 The Second Assistant by Clare Naylor and Mimi Hare -- 2 (Viking: $21.95) A gal Friday at a powerful Hollywood agency learns the ropes the hard way.

13 The Known World by Edward P. Jones -- 4 (Amistad/HarperCollins: $24.95) A black slave owner’s plantation is the setting for a tale of love and betrayal in antebellum Virginia.

14 Memorial Day by Vince Flynn (Atria: $25.95) As Americans 10 3 prepare to unveil a war memorial in Washington, D.C., CIA operatives uncover a terrorist plot to launch a nuclear attack on the capital.

15 Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (Atria: $19.95) A Harvard -- 21 scholar uncovers a vendetta against the Roman Catholic Church by a secret society known as the Illuminati.

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

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*--* 1 Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward (Simon & Schuster: $28) A 2 6 behind-the-scenes look at how George W. Bush and his war council came to launch a preemptive attack on Iraq.

2 Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss (Gotham: $17.50) A 1 6 British novelist and journalist offers her zero-tolerance approach to punctuation, drawn from a pioneering BBC series.

3 Big Russ & Me by Tim Russert (Miramax: $22.95) “Meet the 3 2 Press” interviewer Tim Russert writes a paean to his dad, a World War II veteran who worked two jobs to raise his Irish Catholic family in Buffalo, N.Y.

4 Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (Penguin: $35) A look 9 4 at the first U.S. Treasury secretary, whose legacy in politics, statecraft and economics is greater than that of many presidents.

5 Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism by 8 3 Bob Edwards (John Wiley: $19.95) The longtime NPR morning host writes of the broadcast pioneer.

6 The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Laura 4 21 Schlessinger (HarperCollins: $24.95) The talk show host tells how to manage the “very simple creature” that is man.

7 The Outlaw Sea by William Langewiesche (North Point -- 1 Press: $23) A look at the tumultuous, seemingly lawless shipping industry on the world’s oceans.

8 Worse Than Watergate by John W. Dean (Little, Brown: 6 8 $22.95) Former White House counsel details how President Bush has done more damage to the nation than President Nixon or Watergate.

9 Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts (William Morrow: -- 3 $24.95) A look at the early American wives, mothers and sisters of the men who gave birth to a nation, and their influence on them.

10 The Politics of Truth by Joseph Wilson (Carroll & Graf: -- 2 $26) A diplomat takes the Bush administration to task in the revelation of his CIA operative wife after he questioned its policy on Iraq.

11 The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren (Zondervan: 5 63 $19.99) How the “God ordained” principles of worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism bring fulfillment.

12 Everything About Me Is Fake ... And I’m Perfect by Janice -- 1 Dickinson (Regan Books: $24.95) The supermodel peels away the layers of illusion that create the image of perfection.

13 Blue Blood by Edward Conlon (Riverhead Books: $26.95) A -- 2 New York Police Department detective paints a vivid picture of life on the force and its hold on his life.

14 Why Courage Matters by John McCain with Mark Salter -- 2 (Random House: $16.95) The Arizona senator ponders the importance of sacrificing for others and of facing fear head-on.

15 Chick: His Unpublished Memoirs and the Memories of Those 12 2 Who Loved Him by Chick Hearn and Steve Springer (Triumph: $27.95) Remembering the Laker broadcaster.

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Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.