Dear Burning Questions,
When are we going to see the new book in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series? I want to see more of Claire and Jamie.

Rene Mayo
Battle Creek, Michigan

We're fans of Claire and Jamie Fraser as well, and though we enjoyed Gabaldon's detour to launch a new series about Lord John Grey (in Lord John and the Private Matter), we can't wait for our passionate couple to return. After all, it's been three long years since the publication of The Fiery Cross, the fifth book in the Outlander series. So it was with the greatest pleasure that we presented your question to Diana (note how subtly we drop names around here!). She assures us that she is even now on the final phase of the next big Outlander book, A Breath of Snow and Ashes.

"Final phase," Gabaldon says, "is a rather flexible concept, but I am hoping to finish the book around the end of the year. After that, it's up to the publisher, of course." Her publisher, Delacorte, is as eager as we are to see the next installment of Claire and Jamie's adventures in bookstores, and Gabaldon says she expects a 2005 release date. If only we could access a reliable means of time travel!

HOLLYWOOD GUMSHOE

Dear Burning Questions,
I am a great fan of Ron Goulart's Groucho Marx detective series. Is he planning on writing a sixth volume?

Chris Coker
Paris, Texas

Readers might be surprised to learn that Groucho, king of the one-liner, was also one heck of a crime solver. At least that's what author Ron Goulart would have us believe. In Groucho Marx, Master Detective, Groucho made his first foray into the world of smoking guns and suspicious butlers. This initial expedition proved so successful that he starred in four other capers. Marx is scheduled to solve his sixth murder behind the silver screen in Groucho Marx, King of the Jungle, due from St. Martin's Press in the spring. The prolific and multi-talented Goulart is also the author of the Comic Book Encyclopedia, reviewed in this issue.

PULPED FICTION

Dear Burning Questions,
In the 1950s I discovered John D. MacDonald in Cosmopolitan magazine. Boy, was I hooked. Do you know of a compilation of these wonderful mysteries?

Nona G. Smith
Maryville, California

Most of John D. MacDonald's novels and short-story collections have re-mained in print since his death in 1986, which is a testament to his popularity with fans of hard-boiled detective fiction. You might find the tales you're looking for in More Good Old Stuff, published by Knopf, which contains a selection of his early magazine stories.

MacDonald sold all kinds of stories—sports, science, adventure, fantasy—to a number of magazines. Before creating his most memorable character, private-eye Travis McGee, a sleuth who could give any of Raymond Chandler's detectives a run for their money, he had already written more than 40 books and several hundred short stories.

NO RELATION

Dear Burning Questions,
I recently read Anne Perry's No Graves As Yet and noticed that it is dedicated to her grandfather, whose name and profession are the same as the character of her book. Is the novel based on her family? And is it the beginning of a new series?

Martha Hirsch
Warren, New Jersey

You were paying attention, weren't you? We weren't, and so we completely missed the possibility that the hero/detective of Perry's new three-part series set during WWI might be more than fictional. Perry assures us, however, that is not the case. Joseph's name (along with that of his brother, Matthew) and profession are the only thing that the fictional character and the author's grandfather have in common. Shoulder in the Sky, the sequel to No Graves As Yet, was released in September by Ballantine.

Anne Perry was born in London, England, in 1938. She began writing mysteries set in Victorian London on a suggestion from her stepfather, and is probably best known for her two detective series that take place in that era. Perry will be heading back to the 19th century with her next book, Long Spoon Lane, starring husband-and-wife investigators Charlotte and Thomas Pitt.