FICTION - Los Angeles Times

THE HELLION by LaVyrle Spencer (Jove: $4.50). Tommy Lee loves a good belt, fast cars, faster women and the well-bred, newly widowed Rachel Hollis. HARD RAIN by Peter Abrahams (Onyx: $4.50).

What appears to be a routine child-custody dispute is an entirely different embranglement. KING OF THE MURGOS by David Eddings (Del Rey: $4.95). Follows “Guardians of the West”; book two of

The Malloreon series. THE BEAUTIFUL ROOM IS EMPTY by Edmund White (Ballantine: $4.95). Set in the ‘50s and ‘60s, the gay adolescent protagonist from “A Boy’s Own Story” comes of age. ALL MY

FRIENDS ARE GOING TO BE STRANGERS by Larry McMurtry (Touchstone: $7.95). Danny Deck, a nascent writer, embodies the conflict between a writer’s solitary life and need for companionship.

NONFICTION WOMEN AND LOVE: A Cultural Revolution in Progress by Shere Hite (St. Martin’s: $5.95). Utilizing an anonymous questionnaire, Hite reveals and analyzes the thoughts of 4,500 women

on their relationships with men. AND WE ARE NOT SAVED: The Elusive Quest for Racial Justice by Derrick Bell (Basic: $9.95). Harvard law professor uses scholarship and fables to probe and

search for new direction on the issue of equality. DR. SNOW: How the FBI Nailed an Ivy League Coke King by Carol Saline (Signet: $4.95). Larry Levine’s drive turned him into a successful

dentist and a major cocaine dealer. A WOMAN OF EGYPT by Jehan Sadat (Pocket: $8.95). Mme. Sadat shares the life she led with one of the world’s most respected leaders, Anwar Sadat. THE BIG

BOOK OF AMERICAN IRISH CULTURE, edited by Bob Callahan (Penguin: $12.95). How people of Irish descent have made impressions on popular culture. SELF-HELP / REFERENCE RUTH PAGE’S GARDENING

JOURNAL by Ruth Page (Houghton Mifflin: $7.95). Flower and vegetable garden care advice excerpted from Page’s popular radio programs. THE HEALTHY GARDEN HANDBOOK, editors of Mother Earth

News (Fireside: $11.95). Easy desk-reference vegetable catalogue on seasonal care and nonchemical preventive techniques. MORE TO READ