Fiction

1. “The Appeal,” by John Grisham (Doubleday, $27.95). Political and legal intrigue ensue when a Mississippi court decides against a chemical company.

2. “Strangers in Death,” by J. D. Robb (Putnam, $25.95). Lt. Eve Dallas investigates a businessman’s scandalous death; by Nora Roberts, writing pseudonymously.

3. “7th Heaven,” by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Little, Brown, $27.99). In San Francisco, Detective Lindsay Boxer and the Women’s Murder Club hunt for an arsonist and a missing teenager.

4. “Lady Killer,” by Lisa Scottoline (Harper, $25.95). When her high-school rival disappears, possibly as a result of foul play, a Philadelphia lawyer must confront her past.

5. “Duma Key,” by Stephen King (Scribner, $28). A Minnesota contractor moves to Florida to recover from an injury and begins to create paintings with mysterious power.

Nonfiction

1. “Liberal Fascism,” by Jonah Goldberg (Doubleday, $27.95). This “alternative history of American liberalism : reveals its roots in, and commonalities with, classical fascism.”

2. “In Defense of Food,” by Michael Pollan (Penguin Press, $21.95). A manifesto urges us to “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

3. “The Age of American Unreason,” by Susan Jacoby. (Pantheon, $26). Are Americans hostile to knowledge?

4. “Reconciliation,” by Benazir Bhutto (HarperCollins, $27.95). A posthumous look at Islam, democracy and the West.

5. “Predictably Irrational,” by Dan Ariely (Harper, $25.95). An M.I.T. behavioral economist shows how emotions and social norms systematically shape our behavior.