Dear Burning Questions,

Whatever happened to Don Winslow? He wrote four books with the main character Neal Carey, who works for "friends of the family." My reading friends and I thought these books were great.

Annette Moore
Council Bluffs, Iowa

Don Winslow's own life sounds nearly as fascinating as the thrillers he writes. He's a former safari leader, he once got arrested after smuggling money into Africa (for an aid organization) and he spent time playing a terrorist to help train State Department officials. Nowadays, he works as a PI and writes screenplays and novels, and his latest book, The Winter of Frankie Machine, will be published October 4 by Knopf. Though it doesn't star Neal Carey, it does deal with "the family"—and it's already been optioned for film by the Godfather himself, Robert De Niro.

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR

I hope that Marsha Mehran is busy writing another novel. Her first book, Pomegranate Soup (Random House), was just terrific.

Ruth Glazer
Stoughton, Massachusetts

We're also fans of Marsha Mehran's debut novel, which will be released in paperback this September. Part Chocolat, part Persepolis, the book followed the lives of three Iranian émigrés who start a Persian café in a small Irish town.

BQ got in touch with Mehran, and there's good news: "I'm just wrapping up a sequel to Pomegranate Soup," she says. "My three Persian sisters and the little village of Ballinacroagh wanted more telling, so who am I to stand in their way? It is due out Summer 2007." Pomegranate Soup was inspired in part by the author's own life: She and her parents emigrated from Iran to South America, where they opened (you guessed it) a Persian café.

DIGGING LINDSAY

Can you tell me if Beverly Connor is planning to write any more books in the Lindsay Chamberlain series?

Gwen Walker
Regina, Saskatchewan

Beverly Connor—whose work is often compared to that of Patricia Cornwell—holds advanced degrees in archaeology, anthropology and geology, so it's not surprising that she gave her two heroines similar professional training. Your favorite, archaeologist Lindsay Chamberlain, arrived on the scene a decade ago in A Rumor of Bones. Four mysteries later, Connor switched to a new series featuring forensic anthropologist Diane Fallon. The latest of those books, Dead Secret (Onyx), was published last December, and Connor says she's just finished a fourth Fallon book.

With that series well established, Connor is returning to Lindsay with Kill Site. "In archaeology, a kill site is a place where animals were butchered for food," she explains to BQ. "In criminal terminology, the kill site is the primary murder scene. It seemed like a good title, since Lindsay is excavating a Native American kill site—and of course someone gets murdered there, too.

"I would someday like to do a novel with both characters," she adds. "It would be fun to have them meet."

MURDER IS ACADEMIC

Will Edith Skom ever write another Beth Austin mystery? I have just re-read The Mark Twain Murders and remembered how much I enjoyed her very literate novels.

Joyce Storer
Hagerstown, Maryland

Write what you know, they tell aspiring authors, and Edith Skom did just that when developing Beth Austin, the English professor protagonist of the Agatha-, Anthony- and Macavity-nominated novel you mentioned. Austin has a knack for finding herself in the midst of crimes bearing some relationship to the book she happens to be reading. Thus, the two other books in the series: The George Eliot Murders and The Charles Dickens Murders.

It's been eight years since that last novel, which was set on the campus of Skom's alma mater, the University of Chicago. Skom's other alma mater is Northwestern University, where she teaches composition and a freshman seminar on classic mystery novels. She also continues to write mystery novels herself. "I'm writing another Beth Austin mystery," she tells BQ. And the literary tie-in? "I can only say that it's probably Robert Browning."

MEMBERS ONLY

I have been waiting for a new book from Tess Gerritsen. Can you help me? Did I miss a book or is she working on a book?

Dana Garrison

Tess Gerritsen has completed a new book in her Jane Rizzoli series, and it will be hitting bookshelves everywhere on September 12. The Mephisto Club (Ballantine) is an atmospheric thriller with a supernatural twist. We contacted Gerritsen, who had just returned from the first ever Thrillerfest conference, for the inside scoop on Jane's upcoming adventure:

"Ancient Israelite lore speaks of 'the Nephilim,' an evil bloodline that has lived among us since the age of Noah. What if the legends were true, and the descendants of the Nephilim are still with us, committing unspeakable crimes? Detective Jane Rizzoli follows a trail of mysterious symbols and Biblical clues in the most chilling murder case of her career."

Gerritsen's last Jane Rizzoli novel, Vanish (2005), was a runaway bestseller and was nominated for two of the mystery genre's biggest awards, the Edgar and the Macavity. If you just can't get enough Gerritsen news, be sure to visit her website, tessgerritsen.com—she keeps one of the best author blogs on the Web and updates it regularly.

CONTEST WINNER

We have a feeling that Rita Freudberg of Auburndale, Massachusetts, might just be the most popular member of her book club: As the winner of the contest in our May issue, Rita and her book group will get a visit from best-selling author Elinor Lipman. Congratulations!