James Lee Burke Confronts Race Issues in His Crime Novels

Spy novelist John Le Carre. His novels, almost every one of which is considered a masterpiece of the genre, include "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold," "A Small Town in Germany," "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and "The Little Drummer Girl." To many critics, Le Carre is not simply the finest spy novelist of his era, but perhaps the finest all-around novelist. His new best-seller is called "The Night Manager."

Mystery writer Walter Mosley. He's written a new book in his series about gumshoe hero Easy Rawlins, called "Black Betty." Betty's a shark of a woman who leaves dead men in her wake. Like the other books in the series, "Black Betty" has Easy in post-War, but pre-present South Central L.A.-- this time the year is 1961. Mosley gained public attention when presidential candidate Bill Clinton said that Mosley was his favorite mystery writer. His next book,"RL's Dream" comes out this August.

We pay tribute to singer Dorothy Collins, who died yesterday at the age of 67. Collins was the star of the 1950's TV show "Your Hit Parade," and received a Tony nomination in1971 for her role in Stephen Sondheim's Broadway show "Follies." We will play "Losing My Mind," from that show.