In an announcement welcomed by readers as well as publishing execs, Oprah Winfrey recently revealed that she's bringing back her wildly successful book club, with a new focus and format this time around. Oprah will choose classic works of literature and take her TV viewers on a tour of the author's birthplace or the book's setting. At press time, Oprah hadn't divulged any details about her first selection, but early favorites picked by fans of the show included Pride and Prejudice and To Kill a Mockingbird. Stay tuned.

I SPY

Dear Burning Questions,
When will the next work from P.T. Deutermann be published?

Jim Atkins
Latta, South Carolina

A former naval officer who worked at the Pentagon, P.T. Deutermann (the "P" stands for Peter, by the way) is personally familiar with the world he writes about. The popular author of suspense and techno-thrillers has a new project in the works, to be released in December by St. Martin's Press. Here's what Deutermann had to tell BQ about The Firefly: "It's the story of a terrorist plot to decapitate the U.S. government in Washington, D.C., and the efforts of a lone Secret Service agent to prevent the disaster."

FUNNY BUSINESS

Dear Burning Questions,
Can you refer me to women authors who write with a sense of humor and wit? For example, I love reading Jane Heller, Anne Lamott and Jeanne Ray. I'll look forward to your response.

Marilyn Nevins
Raleigh, North Carolina

You may not have to settle for substitutes! All of the authors you mentioned will have new titles on the shelves in the next few months. Lucky Stars, Jane Heller's new novel from St. Martin's, will be in bookstores this month. Set in Hollywood, the book's heroine is an aspiring actress whose overbearing mother suddenly becomes more famous than her daughter through a bizarre tuna fish mishap. Anne Lamott will contribute to a book that sounds right up your alley: Sand in My Bra and Other Misadventures: Funny Women Write from the Road, coming in May from Travelers' Tales. Jeanne Ray has a third book coming from Crown in June; Eat Cake is the story of a woman who heals her family's problems through her favorite activity: cake-baking. Other funny women we think you might enjoy include Jennifer Crusie, Olivia Goldsmith, Ann B. Ross and Jill Conner Browne (aka the Sweet Potato Queen).

PATRIOT GAMES

Dear Burning Questions,
I would like to know when the next book in the Sparrowhawk series by Edward Cline will be out.

Richard C. Wilson
Des Plaines, Illinois

Book two in this exciting historical series was released in November. Sparrowhawk: Hugh Kenrick views the years before the American Revolution through the eyes of a rebellious English nobleman. Cline tells us he was inspired to write the series to highlight the intellectual movement that was the true reason behind the revolution.

Books three and four are finished (book three, Caxton, will appear this November), and Cline is currently working on book five. This leaves room for a possible sixth installment by the time the series ends at the opening of the Revolutionary War.

NO BONES ABOUT IT

Dear Burning Questions,
I just finished reading Them Bones by Carolyn Haines (1999). I thoroughly enjoyed the read and hope that Ms. Haines has written another book using the same characters. It sounded like this book was an opening to a series of good private eye books with Sarah Booth Delaney being the main investigator. What do you know about this?

Eveline Ledford
Port Orchard, Oregon

Your instincts were right—Them Bones was indeed the opening novel in a series starring southern belle Sarah Booth Delaney. The fourth title in the series, Crossed Bones, will be published this month by Delacorte, and Haines is already working on a fifth book, Hallowed Bones. All are set in the Mississippi Delta town of Zinnia.

Carolyn Haines has also written romance novels under the name Caroline Burne.

Headline

Dear Burning Questions,
Is there any hope for a new book by Ann Patchett anytime soon? I just loved Bel Canto and The Magician's Assistant and can hardly wait for a new one.

Martha Spencer
Jacksonville, North Carolina

The acclaim keeps coming for Patchett's Bel Canto, winner of the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award. This unforgettable story of an opera singer and her audience, taken hostage in South America by a terrorist group, made its way onto bestseller lists early this year as a result of positive word of mouth from readers like you. Film rights to the novel were recently optioned by producer Caroline Baron (Monsoon Wedding).

Patchett's next book will be a foray into nonfiction inspired by her friendship with the poet Lucy Grealy, who died in December. Dearest to Me, to be published by HarperCollins at a yet-to-be-determined date, will tackle the complicated world of women's friendships. HarperPerennial also plans to reissue Grealy's 1995 memoir, Autobiography of a Face, with an afterword by Patchett.

This venture doesn't mean the talented Patchett is abandoning fiction: she's also been working on a new novel, though she isn't ready to talk about the details.