Dear Burning Questions,

I have read the three books about Detective John (Jack) Paris by Richard Montanari, and they are great. Is Montanari writing any more of these?

Beryl A. McMaster

We like to give bad news first, so here goes: Montanari informs BQ that "there are no plans to write another John Paris book at this time."

Now for the good news: there are more Montanari thrillers on the way. Last year, Montanari began a new series featuring Philadelphia homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano in The Rosary Girls. This month, the two return in The Skin Gods (Ballantine). Byrne and Balzano are once again on the trail of a killer, and this one is making headlines in Philly with his unusual methods of murder—all of which are copied from classic Hollywood films.

HALL MONITOR

Dear Burning Questions,

Will the writer Sands Hall ever write another novel? I thought her book Catching Heaven (2000) was terrific.

Ruth Glazer
Stoughton, Massachusetts

You weren't alone in your admiration for Sandra (Sands) Hall's debut novel, in which middle-aged sisters face unattained dreams and lingering sibling rivalry. Catching Heaven was a finalist for the Willa Award in the best contemporary fiction category and a Random House Reader's Circle selection.

Hall, who teaches in several writing programs, says she is working on a new novel which she hopes to finish this spring. Her second book, Tools of the Writer's Craft (Moving Finger Press), a collection of essays and exercises for writers, was published this past December. A respected dramatist, Hall has also been busy directing, acting and writing for the stage.

IRISH STORYTELLING

Dear Burning Questions,

I enjoyed The Princes of Ireland so much. I wondered when the second book is coming out?

Mary Ann O'Connell
South Bend, Indiana

You're in luck, because the second and final book in the Dublin Saga, The Rebels of Ireland (Doubleday) will be on shelves this month. A graduate of both Cambridge and Stanford universities, Edward Rutherfurd knows the value of research—and that knowledge has served him well in his historical novels.

With the Dublin Saga, Rutherfurd turns his eye on his current hometown of Dublin. The Princes of Ireland (2004) spanned nearly 1,000 years of Irish history. The second book in the saga chronicles the next thousand years, bringing to life the country's religious conflicts, famines, mass emigrations and attempts to separate from England.

REYNOLDS RETURNS

Dear Burning Questions,

I'd like to know if Sheri Reynolds is in the process of writing another book. I loved her three earlier books: Bitterroot Landing, The Rapture of Canaan and A Gracious Plenty.

Keri Langdale Valdosta, Georgia

Firefly Cloak, Reynolds' first novel in almost 10 years, will be published in April by Crown. "It's a mother/daughter story, not always a happy one but hopefully an authentic one," Reynolds tells BQ from her home in Norfolk, Virginia. "The novel is told from three different perspectives. There's a girl named Tessa Lee, her mother who abandoned her (Sheila) and her grandmother who is raising her (Lil), and the book weaves all their stories together."

Since A Gracious Plenty was published in 1997, Reynolds says, "I've been busy with my teaching life and going through the tenure process here at Old Dominion University where I'm a professor. (I'm also the Ruth and Perry Morgan Chair of Southern Literature. How's that for a title!) I love working with student writers, but that means I have very limited time to do my own writing. So it's taken me a while to get this new book finished."

Reynolds' many fans will also be happy to hear that she's "half finished drafting another novel, a really funny one tentatively titled The Amazing Tales of Myrtle and Hellcat. I can't wait for summer, when I'll be able to finish the draft."