Dear Burning Questions,
I love Florida adventure tales and Laurence Shames is one of the best at writing them. I've read all of his wonderfully funny stories but have not seen anything in years that he's written. I am curious to know, what has happened to Mr. Shames?

Sherry Turner
Longview, Texas

Laurence Shames, that master of Key West crime, is the author of eight comic thrillers set on the island, including his most recent, The Naked Detective (2000). The reason you might have lost track of Shames is not because he's stopped writing, but because he has been writing nonfiction. His latest book, Not Fade Away, was published by Rodale in 2003. Co-written with Peter Barton, the book chronicles Barton's confrontation with cancer and the inspiring journey of self-discovery he underwent in the wake of his diagnosis.

Shames tells BQ that he is happily at work on another co-written memoir whose working title is Living Large. Shames is teaming with political consultant Mike Berman to chronicle Berman's lifelong struggle with weight. "There are a zillion books that pander to the fantasy of becoming thin; there are very few—especially by men—about the reality of living life inside the skin of a fat person," Shames says. "That's the book that Mike and I are writing." Publication is planned for late this year or early in 2006.

WAR OF THE WORLDS

Dear Burning Questions,
I am impatiently waiting for Dav Pilkey to write and publish his next Ricky Ricotta book. In the back of Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot Adventures, he has three books listed, The Uranium Unicorns from Uranus, The Naughty Nightcrawlers from Neptune, and The Unpleasant Penguins from Pluto that are not yet out. When, if ever, will they be available?

Disappointed and waiting,
Dylan Doyle
Mokena, Illinois

Fear not, young reader! Ricky Ricotta and his Mighty Robot will be stomping their way to you soon. The Uranium Unicorns from Uranus is scheduled to be released in September, and no one familiar with the classical origins of the unicorn will be surprised that love and all of its aches and pains is to be a major theme. In this adventure, Ricky's Mighty Robot falls disastrously in love with a Mighty Lady Robot. Disastrous because the evil Uncle Unicorn decides that as long as Ricky's Robot is under the Ladybot's hypnotic spell it is the perfect time to invade Earth!

DANDIES AND DAISIES

Dear Burning Questions,
The Beau Brummell mystery series by Rosemary Stevens is truly enjoyable. Will there be another book coming out soon?

Joan DeNisco
Lynnfield, Massachussetts

Well, Joan, to be honest, we had no clue what became of this famous dandy. So we did the sensible thing and tracked down Stevens herself, who had a cold. She selflessly disregarded her own health in order to answer your question.

Stevens' Beau Brummell series, featuring the Regency trendsetter nonpareil and fashion bug sine qua non as a dogged detective, has been retired to make way for a sleuth of a different sort: Bebe Bennett, part-time secretary, part-time crime solver and full-time Mod Girl. Stevens, now writing under the name Rosemary Martin, sets her new series in the swinging '60s. The author says she's aiming for light, funny and groovy this time around. The first book, It's a Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod Murder, will be released in April and has been described as "That Girl meets Miss Marple." Sounds like you should trade in your cravats and fichus for sharkskin boots and miniskirts.

ROWLING'S ROYALTY

Word that J.K. Rowling has completed the manuscript for the sixth Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, has sent Potter fans into a frenzy. Who exactly is the mysterious Half-Blood Prince, anyway? Rowling has said that it is neither Harry himself nor the evil Lord Voldemort. Could it be Godric Gryffindor, a Hogwarts founder? Or Draco Malfoy? Who will be the new Minister of Magic? And who will be killed off in this sixth Potter saga? Certainly not Harry, who must live until book seven, when the series ends.

There's even speculation on what color the book cover will be (purple, perhaps?). To get the final answers, readers will have to wait until July 16 when the book goes on sale here and abroad.

PARENTAL GUIDANCE

Thanks to alert reader Raya Gordon of Providence, Rhode Island, who points out that the main characters in the Betsy-Tacy books are not orphans, as we wrote here in January, but the children of happy, two-parent homes.