LOS ANGELES, Oct 7 — Stephen King retains his title as America’s favourite author, with James Patterson still in second, joined by an upwardly mobile J.K. Rowling in The Harris Poll’s 2015 edition.

In the time since The Harris Poll’s 2010 report, J.K. Rowling has segued from “Harry Potter” impresario to adult and crime fiction novelist with “The Casual Vacancy,” “The Cuckoo’s Calling” and “The Silkworm.”

As it turns out, the mystery, crime and thriller genres are together Americans’ favourite kind of fiction (47% coverage), first choice across every generation; by contrast fantasy fiction (24%) is only seventh out of 12 categories reported on, after history (33%), biography (31%), romance (27%), cookbooks and food (26%) and sci-fi (26%).

Rowling’s ascent bumps John Grisham down to fourth favourite, a position jointly held with Dean Koontz who rose from sixth, while romance author Nora Roberts / J.D. Robb moves from fourth to sixth.

Two classic novelists are found in joint eighth, J.R.R. Tolkien and Mark Twain; new in at ninth, romantic fiction author Nicholas Sparks is one ahead of last year’s seventh, Danielle Steel in tenth. — AFP-Relaxnews