Despite my earlier promise, I have not kept up informing you of new arrivals. They've been a bit slower than usual, as holiday demands on the budget have required me to fall back upon the public library and the thousands of books I already own and haven't read yet. Isn't that a shame?!

A dear friend sent me a signed first edition of Scott Turow's Ordinary Heroes. I've been a Turow fan since I read One L, his memoir of his first year in law school. I can no longer remember if I read it before or after my own years in law school, but I do know that he described the anguish and horrors of the first year with great humor and precision. Years later, I read Presumed Innocent, staying up until 4:00 a.m. to finish. It hooked me forever as a Turow follower, and I'm therefore happy to have this new book to look forward to devouring.

Another author I follow with something like religious zest is Elizabeth George. I'm behind on her series by a couple of books, not having yet gotten to A Place of Hiding and With No One As Witness, both now available in paperback; but that didn't stop me from picking up her newest, What Came Before He Shot Her. Perhaps over the Christmas break I'll read all three back to back, and have a Lynley and Havers festival!

I was intrigued by the descriptions I read of Death of a Writer by Michael Collins. It appears to be about life, death, writing, literature and academia, my favorite subjects all in one place and wrapped up in a murder mystery. I just paused in my writing and read the first page, and I do believe I'm going to read this book next -- it can capture you that quickly.

Finally, it's the time of year for all those "best of" books, and I therefore have Best American Mystery Stories 2006 awaiting my attention. This reliable series, with Otto Penzler as the series editor, is a delight to dip into. This year's is edited by Scott Turow, whose taste I trust simply because he writes so well. It's a lovely way to catch up on the year's short fiction.

Many hours of happy reading ahead!