Dear Burning Questions,

Does Ann Patchett have a new book coming out soon? I loved Bel Canto, and have waited a long time for another of her novels.

Suzanne Rorhus
Battle Creek, Michigan

Patchett, whose 2001 novel, Bel Canto, won the PEN/Faulkner Award and Britain's Orange Prize, has signed a deal with HarperCollins to publish two more books. The first is a novel, Run, due out next fall, which examines 24 hours in the life of a Boston family during a blizzard. The second is a nonfiction book based on a graduation speech, whose title and release date have not been announced.

STILL BURNING

Dear Burning Questions,

I see from browsing your Burning Questions that Candles on Bay Street has been made into a movie. I've been able to find out that the movie has wrapped, but not the release date. Any chance you can enlighten us as to when that movie will be released so we can keep our eyes open?

Trudi Inglis
Mader's Cove, Nova Scotia

What a long strange trip it's been for the movie adaptation of Candles on Bay Street, written by Cathie Pelletier under the pen name K.C. McKinnon. Pelletier told BQ way back in 1998 that she'd sold a movie option for the novel to ABC, but the project languished. As it turned out, Pelletier tells us, "a producer who knew and loved the book just never forgot about it." Hallmark finally greenlighted the film earlier this year, and it will air November 26 as a Hallmark Hall of Fame production on CBS.

Directed by John Erman, who made TV movies of Ellen Foster and Breathing Lessons, the Hallmark film was shot on location in Nova Scotia. The movie stars Alicia Silverstone, along with Polly Bergen, Eion Bailey of "ER" and Annabeth Gish of "The West Wing."

Pelletier, who divides her time between homes in Quebec and Maine, has even more exciting news to share on the movie front. She's writing the screenplay for another of her novels, The Funeral Makers, which will be the next film by prominent director Doug Liman (his previous films include Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Identity). In addition, Pelletier is working on what she thinks will be her final Mattagash novel.

OFF AND RUNNING

Dear Burning Questions,

What's up next from Laura Hillenbrand? I really enjoyed Seabiscuit and have been waiting for another book from this talented author.

Emily Miller
Athens, Georgia

Hillenbrand tells us she's busy planning her wedding to longtime fiancé Borden Flanagan, a professor at American University, and doesn't have time to share details about her latest project. But we can tell you what we do know: the Seabiscuit author signed a contract with Random House in 2004 to write a book about Louis Zamperini, an Olympic athlete who served in the Pacific during World War II and was captured and held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese for more than two years.

Despite suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Hillenbrand is reported to be proceeding with interviews and other research. Her publicist at Random House says the book is not on the 2007 publication schedule, so be prepared for what could be an extended wait. In the meantime, we recommend that you check out Devil at My Heels, Zamperini's own account of his remarkable life.

KILLER SERIES

Dear Burning Questions,

Do you have a date and title for the next installment of Jeff Lindsay's terrific series starring the sympathetic serial killer Dexter?

Mark J. Weinberg
Brooklyn, New York

In an interview with BookPage in August 2005, Lindsay mentioned that he was hard at work on the third Dexter Morgan novel . . . but more than a year later, there's still no new book. We got in touch with Lindsay to get the inside scoop on the lovable Miami serial killer, whose inner voice (which he calls the Passenger) drives him to murder.

"I've been beating my brains out to finish Dexter in the Dark, which will be out next July," Dexter says. "I'm happy to provide a little hint: Dexter comes up against something that scares the Passenger right out of him, and for the first time he has to fight something that may be scarier than he is—all alone."

If you can't wait that long for another adventure, Lindsay has high praise for the new Showtime series, "Dexter," that's based on his novels, and he has even been traveling to help promote it. "I love the show—if you haven't seen it yet, you must! Michael C. Hall [who plays Dexter] is absolutely brilliant and he has nailed the part right on the button. The acting and writing are terrific all through, as is the direction. The photography and art direction may be among the best you've ever seen on TV, too, so—well, I guess I'd have to say I'm floored at the terrific job they've done."