Dear Burning Questions

One of my favorite mystery series is written under the nom de plume of Owen Parry and features Abel Jones. The setting is the Civil War. Several books were published at regular intervals by William Morrow. The last book came out in 2005. When I checked the website of William Morrow, Owen Parry was not included on their authors list. Please see if you can find out whether another Abel Jones mystery is in the works and when I might expect to enjoy reading it.

Jay A. Baker
Cherry Valley, Illinois

Sometimes Burning Questions has to be the bearer of bad news. Henry Ferris, Parry's former editor at Morrow, says the company won't be publishing any more Jones novels. "Unfortunately they never took off for us in terms of sales so we decided not to go forward with them," he told BQ.

The lack of a home for his fiction probably doesn't bother Parry much. He has written several mysteries and nonfiction books under his real name, Ralph Peters, and has recently published a memoir, Looking for Trouble. These days, the retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel keeps busy as a security adviser for Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who might be surprised to know that Parry/Peters is just one step away from his Democratic rival—Parry's former editor, Ferris, also edited Barack Obama's Dreams from My Father.

FLYING HIGH

Dear Burning Questions,

Do you know if Robert Wilson is planning another excellent Javier Falc—n mystery? I have read and re-read Mr. Wilson's first three mysteries (The Vanished Hands, The Blind Man of Seville and The Hidden Assassins) many times as I love his very moving portrait of all-too-human Police Inspector Jefe Javier Falc—n, as well as the beautiful and intriguing descriptions of Spain and the Arab world he presents. Any hope of seeing Inspector Jefe anytime soon?

Christine Young
Farmington, New Mexico

Wilson is a favorite of Whodunit? columnist Bruce Tierney as well, who has described the author's work as "Chandleresque" and "impossible to put down." We got in touch with Wilson's publicist at Harcourt, who gave us some good news: "As a matter of fact, Robert Wilson is working on the fourth and final book in the Javier Falc—n Seville Quartet, and we'll publish it in spring 2009. The novel is titled The Ignorance of Blood. It starts three months after the Seville bombing, a crime Falc—n could not solve. On an empty stretch of motorway outside Seville, a truck sheds its load of steel rods into the path of an oncoming SUV, and when $12 million is discovered in the trunk, Falc—n is called to the scene. The dead driver, a Russian Mafioso, and the discs full of compromising videotape in his briefcase might give Falc—n his break in the Seville bombing, but he will not find the answers he's looking for without paying a devastating price."

WINNERS CIRCLE

Congratulations to Julianne Bell of Fairfield, California, who won a $1,000 Saks Fifth Avenue gift card—the grand prize in the The Best Day of Someone Else's Life Shopping Spree Sweepstakes sponsored by Avon Books and BookPage. Second prize of a $250 Saks Fifth Avenue gift card and a summer handbag from THE SAK went to Vicki Rock of Meyersdale, Pennsylvania. The following third-prize winners will receive a signed copy of The Best Day of Someone Else's Life by Kerry Reichs: Carol Dziuba, Pat Babcock, Robert McGrew, Mike Byram, Kristen Corbin, Suzanne Reichel, Jana Harver, Bertrude Corey, H. Kim Havens and Renee Turner.