Dear Burning Questions:
I started reading The Virgin Suicides after I saw the movie, and I was shocked at how well written it is. I can't find anything else by author Jeffrey Eugenides; is he working on something? Please help.

Josh
Via e-mail

Help is on the way, if you can hold out until next year. The title for his next book, a multi-generational saga of a Greek American family, is still up in the air, but Eugenides hopes to complete it by the beginning of 2001.

All in the family

Dear Burning Questions:
I recently read Do You Want to Know a Secret? by Mary Jane Behrends Clark. She dedicated this book to her daughter, Elizabeth Higgins Clark. How is Mary Jane Clark related to Mary Higgins Clark -- a daughter-in-law, perhaps? Please, let us in on her secret.

J. Sydloski
Via e-mail

Excellent deduction! You are correct, except that Mary Jane Behrends Clark is now the ex-daughter-in-law of Mary Higgins Clark. Her second novel, Do You Promise Not to Tell?, will be out in paperback in July.

Waiting for Watson

Dear Burning Questions:
Any word on whether Larry Watson, author of Montana 1948, has any books in the works?

Dianne Michalik
Via e-mail

You want it; you got it. The prize-winning and best-selling author of Montana 1948 and White Crosses unveils Laura, (Pocket, $24.95, ISBN 0671567748) this month. This portrait of faith, obsession, and enduring love in a work of greater tenderness than anything he has yet written.

Soul searching

Dear Burning Questions:
In March or April Oprah had an author on her show talking about a book he wrote concerning karma and how it works. For the life of me, I can't find out what the title of the book is or who it the author is. Please help!

Jacqui
Via e-mail

The author you're looking for is Gary Zukav, visiting Oprah to promote his new book, Soul Stories, published in April by Simon & Schuster. Soul Stories ($24, ISBN 0743204077) is filled with marvelous true stories showing how such concepts as intuition, harmony, sharing, and forgiveness actually express themselves in people's lives. A frequent Oprah guest, Zukav also wrote the best-selling The Seat of the Soul.

A loooooong wait

Dear Burning Questions:
Could you please tell me if Pat Conroy is working on a new book?

Kaye W. Barley
Via e-mail

We sure hope you're the patient type, Kaye. Chris Harden, a publicist at Doubleday, tells us the author of The Water is Wide, The Great Santini, and The Prince of Tides, should have a new novel out in 2010! You read that right. These guys definitely plan ahead.

Catching up with McCrumb

Dear Burning Questions:
Isn't it about time for Sharyn McCrumb to come out with a new book? It seems like ages since her last. Is one in the works?

Rachel Owens
Via email

Relief at last! The mysterious Ms. McCrumb has a new book in her "ballad" series debuting in January 2001. Titled The Songcatcher (Dutton), it's the story of folksinger Lark McCourry, who is haunted by the memory of a family song, passed down through the generations. Lark's only hope of preserving the family legacy lies in mountain-wise woman Nora Bonesteel, who talks to both the living and the dead.

Sleuthing in Seattle

Dear Burning Questions:
Did J.A. Jance kill off the J.P. Beaumont mystery series with Breach of Duty? I hope not; J.P. is the best police detective I know. I also enjoy reading about places in and around Seattle. Tell me he'll continue detecting!

Bill
A former Seattleite

Rest assured the series will continue, but a date for the next book hasn't been set. Look for future Jance plans after her newest book Devil's Claw (William Morrow, $24, ISBN 0380975071) is released in July. This is the seventh mystery featuring Joanna Brady from the series set in Bisbee, Arizona, where Jance grew up. She now lives in Bellevue, Washington.

A few good men

Dear Burning Questions:
I love all three of these authors: Daniel Silva, Brad Meltzer, and Joseph Kanon. Can you tell me when their next books will be out? Thanks.

Debra Antoni
Via e-mail

With the help of a few friendly publicists, we tracked down some answers for you. First, Daniel Silva will release The Last Prince (Random House), an international thriller with a new cast of characters, in the spring of 2001. Second, Brad Meltzer's third novel, The First Council, (Warner Books) involving a young White House attorney who gets caught up in a deadly conspiracy when he gets too close to the daughter of the president, is slated for January 2001. As to Joseph Kanon . . . sorry, nobody bats a thousand. Broadway, the publisher of his previous novel The Prodigal Spy, tells us he has nothing in the works with them.

Loving Ludlum

Dear Burning Questions:
Can you give me any information about my favorite author, Robert Ludlum? None of the bookstores I have contacted have been able to give me information as to when, or even if, he is still writing. Thank you!

Micah Mitchell
Kilgore, Texas

You've come to the right place because we just happen to know that Robert Ludlum has a new novel due out later this month. Written with Gayle Lynds, The Hades Factor (Griffin, $15.95, ISBN 0312264372) delivers more thrills and chills. The story involves a homeless man in Boston, an Army major in California, and a teenage girl in Atlanta who all die suddenly and painfully from an unknown, fast-acting viral agent.

Recipe for reading

Dear Burning Questions:
I love picking up your publication at my local library -- one for me and one for a co-worker! I have two questions about my favorite culinary mystery author, Diane Mott Davidson. 1) Does she have a website, snail-mail address, or fan club? 2) Are you aware of any gift set collections of all her books?

Mary Whitehead

Break out your bathing suit and start surfing the web, Mary! While Davidson doesn't have an official site or fan club, you can find all kinds of stuff at Mysterybooks.about.com -- interviews, reviews, and related sites. Randomhouse.com gives a listing of her nine books, complete with lots of info on each one. If you just have to write a gushing fan letter (and who hasn't) send it care of Bantam Dell Publishing, 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036.

About the gift collections, sorry, no luck there. But it sounds like a great idea to us!

Rice under wraps

Dear Burning Questions:
I know Anne Rice has a new novel coming out this fall. Can you please tell us the name of it?

A reader
Via e-mail

The title is about all we can tell you -- even the publicists don't know much about this one. Look for Merrick, a story of witches and vampires, to be out this fall, probably in October.