Dear Burning Questions,
I would like to know when Wally Lamb will be releasing a new novel. I have really enjoyed his books and it has been far too long since we've had the pleasure of reading his work.

Diane Lindeman
Lawrence, Kansas

Lamb's fans will be happy to hear that the author of the Oprah's Book Club selections She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True has not wandered to greener pastures but is hard at work on another book club must-have.

Lamb tells us his new novel "is to be a story about three generations of a New England family, each of which has connections to a Connecticut women's prison." He credits his experience as a volunteer writing instructor at York Correctional Institution, Connecticut's only prison for female offenders, with having deeply influenced his work.

Lamb hopes to be finished with his novel-in-progress in the next few years, which means all of us must be patient for a little while longer.

RAGE, RAGE

Dear Burning Questions,
It's been several years since the publication of Sylvia Jukes Morris' excellent biography of Clare Boothe Luce, Rage for Fame. Has a publication date been set for part two? By the way, I love your publication. I grab a copy from my home library as soon as it comes in.

Tom Lombard
Fort Worth, Texas

We're suckers for flattery, as you might have noticed, so we were determined to find an answer to your question. A spokesperson for Modern Library, which published Rage for Fame: The Ascent of Clare Boothe Luce in 1997, tells BQ that Sylvia Jukes Morris is indeed working on a second volume about the legendary beauty, and it should be ready for release next year. Morris' first book followed Luce's life through 1942, leaving another 45 years to cover in the sequel.

The English born Jukes Morris, by the way, is married to Edmund Morris, also a well-known biographer who has taken a break from writing the third part of his Teddy Roosevelt series to work on a short biography of Beethoven. Morris is best known for Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan, his controversial portrait of the 40th president.

BODY AND BLOOD

Dear Burning Questions,
What can you find out about mystery writer and Catholic sister Carol Anne O'Marie? When can we expect something new from her? Is she still running her shelter for homeless women in Oakland, California? Thank you!

Katherine Le Croy
Nashville, Tennessee

They say you should write what you know, so it makes sense that Sister Carol Anne O'Marie would make her heroine a woman of the cloth.

Sister Mary Helen, sleuth and star of O'Marie's mystery series, stumbled upon her first murder case in 1984's A Novena for Murder (Simon & Schuster). Since then she has brought nine other sinners to justice. For her next adventure, Murder at the Monk's Table, the good sister travels to Ireland. Release is scheduled in the next two years or so.

O'Marie has been a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet for the past 50 years. She spends her days ministering to homeless women at the Oakland center she co-founded in 1990.

BY tHE SEA, BY THE SEA

Dear Burning Questions,
Being a Delaware native, I was wondering why S.E. Hinton, in her new novel Hawkes Harbor, decided to base the story in a Delaware seaside town.

Ed Homa
Wilmington, Delaware

We didn't know either, so we went straight to the source. Here's what Hinton, author of The Outsiders, had to say about the setting of her new novel, published by Tor Books: "I wanted somewhere on the coast that could be close to Washington, D.C., and that wasn't built up. And I wanted somewhere that contained cold because Kel and Jamie met in Hawaii and then they start drifting around the world and the book gradually gets colder until Jamie ends up in Delaware." Brrrr! Cold, bleak and not a little scary—perfect weather for Hinton's first adult suspense novel.

READERS WE LIKE, VOL. I

Please, would you renew my subscription for another year? And may I tell you how grateful I am for all your hard work and for the time spent in preparing this most thoroughly enjoyable and helpful publication? Thanks so much.

Noreen Culane
West Mifflin, Pennsylvania

A TANGLED W.E.B.

Dear Burning Questions,
I have read everything W.E.B. Griffin has written, and I enjoyed them all. Is he working on anything now? If so, which series?

Thomas Murphy
Pennsauken, New Jersey

You've been a busy man if you've read the entire Griffin oeuvre, because this amazingly successful writer has turned out more than 30 books during his long career, including his latest, Retreat, Hell!, published in January. Fortunately, there are only a few weeks left until the release of Griffin's new novel, By Order of the President, due from Putnam just after the holidays.

By Order of the President launches a brand-new series for Griffin. It's set in the midst of a present-day crisis: two men have leased a Boeing 727, slaughtering the crew before literally disappearing—with the plane—into thin air. As various agencies jostle each other to claim the cachet of solving the crisis, the president, fed up with inter-agency politics and pettiness, turns to Major Carlos Guillermo Castillo to find the answers before it's too late.

Griffin has written five previous series, most focusing on the American military. He is also the author of the popular Badge of Honor series featuring the Philadelphia Police Department.