FICTION

MOUNTAIN LAUREL by Jude Deveraux (Pocket: $5.50). Opera diva, under hot and heavy escort of a jaunty sea captain, is coerced into delivering anti-abolitionist papers in exchange for her sister’s freedom.

DRAGON by Clive Cussler (Pocket Star: $5.95). This ninth time out, Dirk Pitt must outwit Japanese terrorists who are blowing up major American cities.

SECOND CHILD by John Saul (Bantam: $5.99). Introverted girl gets a little help from her spirited friends to come out from under her older sister’s shadow.

VANISHING ANIMALS AND OTHER STORIES by Mary Morris (Penguin: $7.95). Twelve stories by award-winning writer of “Nothing to Declare,” “The Bus of Dreams” and “The Waiting Room.”

NONFICTION

A LITTLE REVENGE: Benjamin Frank-lin at War With His Son by Willard Stern Randall (Quill: $15). The Revolutionary War drove a wedge between a father and son who once had a warm, trusting relationship.

CALL HER MISS ROSS: The Unauthorized Biography of Diana Ross by J. Randy Taraborrelli (Ballantine: $5.95). Behind-the-scenes drama of how Diana eventually reigned as sole supreme.

GROWING UP IN THE SOUTH: An Anthology of Modern Southern Literature, edited by Suzanne W. Jones (Mentor: $5.99). Twenty-four regional writers evoke the place, customs and sense of belonging of their youth.

THE LOONY-BIN TRIP by Kate Millet (Touchstone: $10.95). Feminist Millet struggles intermittently with bouts of manic-depression between bouts for women’s rights.