===From: Jim Barker -------- THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING "EN" In a unique collaboration, celebrated authors Karin Slaughter and M.C. Beaton have invented a new genre - "splatter cosy". A serial language thief is at work in the small highland village of Mitchymacbumfarty. Tap dancing postmistress Eileeeeee wakes up one morning to find that someone has stolen the last two letters of her name. Horrified, she finds she is not alone - other victims include village librarian Carle, and Jnifer the village good time girl. Assisted by local recluse Hawk Macbeth the three girls set out to find the thief before he strikes again. GIVING THE FINGER In her latest thrilling Kay Scarpetta epic by Charlie Cale, the good doctor must track down her most fiendish adversary yet - the crazed Scottish serial mutilator known only as "CARTOON BOY". Obsessed by animated cartoons, the fiend is convinced that everyone in the world should only have four fingers on each hand, not five, and has started a campaign of terror to chop off everyone's middle fingers. Accompanied by her scuba diving. chain-smoking, helicopter flying, miracle healing, FBI agent niece, Vicki Jean, Scarpetta must fight a wall of bureaucracy and obstruction as she struggles to find the mutilator. Meanwhile the finger count mounts.... JimB