The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 80

80 THE BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE DECEMBER 28, 1986 Once the writing is done IfJEilftiEil Sunny, 35-40; warmer tomorrow 7 p.m., EST, forecast and highs for Sunday, December 28. National Weather Service Boston area: Sunny, vfinds light and variable, highs in upper 30s (3-4 0). Tonight, clear, lows 20-25 (-7 to -4 C). Tomorrow, mostly sunny, hfighs in low 40s (4-7 C). By Robert Taylor Globe Staff "Mithra, Saturn, fairies and witches, Druids with cruel knives, the Celtic goddess Strenia, Mari Lwyd of Wales and the Lord of Misrule: the year is haunted, as our lives are, by powerful spirits.

They lurk in the forest and loom from the garden post, or the timbers of an old house, or the branches of a Christmas tree. Dickens smelled these spirits' presence in the psychic air as one might smell the imminence of snow." Thus Frederick Busch begins his essay on Charles Dickens in "When People Publish" (University of Iowa Press, a book about fiction from a writer's perspective, concentrating upon what happens once the writing is done. It's an absorbing and useful work, part autobiography, part literary meditation, part craft commentary (novelist and short Massachusetts. Rhode Island, Connecticut: Mostly cjear, highs 35 to 45. Tonight, njostly clear, lows in teens and 20s.

Tomorrow, mostyl cear, highs 35 to 45. I CaDO Cod and Islands: iunnv. winds lioht and vari came across the original edition, which had been allowed to go out of print, rave reviews notwithstanding. She thought it ought to be retranslated from the Czech and reissued, but no major publisher expressed interest in the project or the new translation done in collaboration with Helen's mother, Franci, and the author. In October, Plunkett Lake issued the book, and immediately garnered more huzzas.

This time, it appears the book won't fade away: Lori-mar Productions has sent out a feeler for the movie rights. Bruce Morgan's Boston Literary News ceases publication this month. The Cambridge journalist-editor kept his newsletter aloft like the aircraft Voyager from the end of the summer of 1985, but he simply ran out of gas. In a farewell letter to subscribers Morgan said, "Launching and sustaining even a modest periodical like mine is an expensive scheme; in fact, I have had to absorb a loss each month since the newsletter's inception. I have done this gladly, and I would do more still, if I could, but it is quite clear from my calculations that the BLN cannot continue at any price I am able to bear." "It's a really good book," asserts Bruce Springsteen, giving an unsolicited plug to Joe Klein's "Woody Guthrie: A Life," just before singing Guthrie's "Your Land Is My Land," on Springsteen's new live album.

Ballantine Books, publishers of the biography, report that Klein's sales have dramatically increased since the New York Times notice, and in the process of rebuttal Informs us exactly how Epstein transformed a musician's story into the essential spirit of music itself. Poet John Ashbery will receive the Common Wealth Award in Literature today at the annual convention of the Modern Language Association in New York City. The award, given in eight fields of activity, consists of an $1 1,000 cash prize and an engraved trophy. Previous recipients in Literature include Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Milan Kundera, Wright Morris, Eudora Welty and Max Frisch. Hada Margolius Kovaly of Brookline first published her graphic memoir "Under a Cruel Star" (Plunkett Lake Press, 551 Franklin Street, Cambridge, $11.50, paperback) in 1973.

The book recounted her experiences in Prague after World War II; she was one of approximately 8,000 surviving Jews; her husband Rudolf was one of 1 1 men hanged in the Slansky Trials of 1952, and she spent a decade seeking to clear his name. Translator Helen Epstein of the Cold -ww Occluded Stationary -r National Waalhar Servica NOAA US Dapt ol Commarca story writer Busch teaches writing at Colgate University), and wholly personal in its responses. Among the themes the author considers are the persistence of the sunken liner image in Hem able, highs around 40. Tonight, clear, lows 25 to 30. Tomorrow, mostly sunny, highs in mid-40s.

i Massachusetts coastal marine forecast: Northeast Winds 10 to 15 knots, becoming variable 15 knots or less during day and shifting to West 15 to 20 knots tonight. Average seas 3 to 4 feet through tonight. Maine, New Hampshire: Mostly sunny, highs in upper 20s to low 30s north and in 30s to near 40 south. Tonight, clear, lows near 10 ijorth and near 20 south. Tomorrow, mostly sunny, highs in upper 20s to low 30s north dnd in 30s to near 40 south.

Showers Rain Flurries Snow ingway and John Hawkes, the true occupation of Sherlock Holmes and a comparison of 24 THE NATIONAL FORECAST: Occasional showers will develop over central and southern Florida, with a few showers over southern Texas. Periods of rain and showers will occur from Washington and western Oregon into northern California. High temperatures will be in the 60s across southern portions of California, Arizona, Texas and northern Florida; in the 70s across southern Florida; and in the mid-30s to the low 50s over much of the nation. pieces of fiction in 16 glossy magazines during the month of September 1983, The highlight, perhaps. MINIATURE ALMANAC Sunday, Dec.

2, 1986 (Eaatarn Standard Time) Sunrise 7:1 3 Moonrise 4:28 am Sunset 4:19 Moonset 1:41 pm Length of day 9:06 Day of year 362 AM PM HIGH TIDE 8:08 8:45 Hgt. of tide 10.6' 9.1' LOW TIDE 1:54 2:38 Hgt. of low tide 0.2' MOON'S PHASES New Moon Dec. 30 10:11 pm First Quarter Jan. 6, 8:36 pm Full Moon Jan.

14, 9:31 pm Last Quarter Jan. 22, 5:47 pm is a penetrating analysis of Leslie Epstein's novella, "The Steinway Quintet," later published, along with two other stories about its Vermont: Mixed clouds $nd sun, highs 30 to 35. Tonight, partly cloudy, lows in fpens. Tomorrow, becoming mostly cloudy, chance of light snow north, highs in $0s. hero, in "Goldkom Tales." Frederick Busch feels "these three stories were monumentally misper- ceived and misrepresented" in a Especially for the mystery 'addict' EXTENDED FORECASTS i Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut: Fair Tuesday and Wednesday, ahance of rain or snow Thursday.

Highs in mid-30s to mid-40s; lows in mid-20s tb low 30s. By Robin W. Winks Three times a week, on aver FOREIGN CITIES Weather and temps yesterday. Local temp. City Weather Time Aberdeen cloudy noon 41 5 Amsterdam rain 1pm 42 6 Ankara ptlycldy 2pm 28 -2 Athens cloudy 2pm 49 9 Auckland' clear noon 64 18 Beijing clear 8pm 19 -7 Berlin rain 1pm 34 1 Bonn cloudy 1pm 39 4 Brussels ptly cldy 1pm 40 5 Cairo dust 2pm 58 14 Casablanca clear noon 57 14 Copenhagen ptlycldy 1pm 34 1 Dakar dust noon 67 20 Dublin cloudy noon 41 5 Geneva rain 1pm 36 2 Helsinki snow 2pm 13-10 Jerusalem dust 3pm 41 5 Karachi clear 5pm 74 23 Lisbon ptly cldy noon 60 15 London cloudy noon 42 6 Madrid clear 11am 54 12 Malta cloudy 1pm 56 13 Manila ptly cldy 8pm 78 26 Moscow ptly cldy 3pm 8-13 Nairobi clear 3pm 80 27 Nassau ptly cldy 7am 70 21 New Delhi clear 5pm 66 19 Nice clear 1pm 57 14 Oslo snow 1pm 26 -4 Paris ptly cldy 1pm 42 6 Pretoria clear 2pm 84 29 Riyadh clear 3pm 77 25 ptlycldy 1pm 45 7 Seoul clear 9pm 24 -5 Sofia clear 2pm 19 -7 Stockholm snow 1pm 26 -3 Sydney cloudy 10pm 69 21 Taipei ptly cldy 8pm 58 15 Tokyo cloudy 9pm 45 7 Tunis ptly cldy 1pm 59 15 Vienna cloudy 1pm 37 3 Warsaw snow 1pm 23 -5 Maine, New Hampshire: Fair Tuesday and Wednes age, someone will confess to me that they are mystery addicts, that they read "everything," and they wonder whether there are any good new writers I could recommend.

Employing vast detec day, chance of flurries Thursday. Highs in 20s to low 30s north and 30s to low 40s south; lows near 10 north and 20 south. look at medical services. This is Hillerman's best book since "Dance Hall of the Dead," which is a classic, for it brings back the sense of passion that suffused the earlier work. For those addicts to whom Hillerman may be a new name (he's been at this game for only 17 years, after all), the action takes place in the vast Navaho Reservation in New Mexico and Arizona, an area large enough and beautiful enough to put Rhode Island to shame, and features two Navaho officers, each originally the focus of an individ tive skills, I size up the questioner and run off a list of names: If they Vermont: Dry Tuesday, look like Christie and Sayers bhance of light snow or flur- types, I assume they know about les north Wednesday, P.

D. James and go on to June chance of snow Thursday. Highs in 30s; lows in 20s. Thomson, Sheila Radley and US CITIES Weather and temperatures for today and Monday Trti Mindly City Frcil. Mot Frest.

High Albany ptcldy 35 cloudy 38 Albuquerque ptcldy 44 ptcldy 48 Anchorage sunny 26 ptcldy 25 Asheville sunny 47 sunny 51 Atlanta sunny 54 sunny 55 Atlantic City sunny 45 sunny 48 Austin ptcldy 56 rain 51 Baltimore sunny 45 sunny 47 Birmingham sunny 53 fair 54 Bismarck sunny 40 ptcldy 39 Boise fair 37 cloudy 39 Buffalo cloudy 38 cloudy 43 Charlstn.SC sunny 54 sunny 54 Charlstn.WV ptcldy 44 sunny 49 Charlotte sunny 52 sunny 52 Cheyenne ptcldy 41 sunny 48 Chicago ptcldy 41 ptcldy 42 Cincinnati cloudy 37 ptcldy 44 Cleveland cloudy 36 ptcldy 41 Clumbia.SC sunny 54 sunny 53 OallsFtWrth ptcldy 48 cloudy 49 Denver ptcldy 40 sunny 47 Des Moines ptcldy 41 ptcldy 42 Detroit cloudy 39 ptcldy 40 El Paso cloudy 50 cloudy 52 GrndRapds cloudy 39 ptcldy 41 Great Falls windy 50 windy 48 Green Bay cloudy 34 ptcldy 35 Greensboro sunny 48 sunny 49 Honolulu sunny 85 sunny 85 Houston ptcldy 62 rain 55 Indianapolis cloudy 36 cloudy 37 Jackson ptcldy 53 sunny 55 Jacksonville fair 57 ptcldy 59 Kansas City ptcldy 43 ptcldy 45 Las Vegas sunny 56 sunny 59 Little Rock cloudy 39 cloudy 42 Los Angeles sunny 72 sunny 72 Louisville cloudy 39 cloudy 44 Memphis cloudy 47 ptcldy 49 Miami Beach cloudy 75 cloudy 76 Milwaukee cloudy 36 ptcldy 38 MplsStPaul ptcldy 36 ptcldy 36 Nashville cloudy 47 ptcldy 49 New Orleans fair 58 cloudy 56 New York ptcldy 42 fair 45 Norfolk sunny 47 sunny 48 OklhmaCity ptcldy 50 cloudy 48 Omaha ptcldy 45 sunny 45 Orlando cloudy 65 ptcldy 68 Philadelphia ptcldy 43 sunny 47 Phoenix fair 67 fair 67 Pittsburgh cloudy 38 ptcldy 42 cloudy 48 shwrs 49 Raleigh ptcldy 48 sunny 49 Rapid City sunny 52 sunny 55 Richmond sunny 47 sunny 49 Sacramento cloudy 50 cloudy 54 St Louis ptcldy 42 ptcldy 45 SaltLakeClty cloudy 37 foggy 39 SanFrancsco ptclay 54 shwrs 55 San Juan ptcldy 86 ptcldy 85 Seattle rain 52 shwrs 47 Spokane cloudy 37 rain 39 TmpStPete cloudy 66 ptcldy 69 Topeka ptcldy 47 ptcldy 50 Tucson fair 64 fair 64 Tulsa cloudy 45 ptcldy 50 Washington sunny 47 sunny 50 MT. WASHINGTON 6 p.m. Weather: clear; wind: NW 18 m.p.h.; temperature: 21; maximum: 21; minimum: precipitation: none; snow depth: 8 inches. HIGH TIDE A.M. P.M.

Old Orchard, Me. 7:59 8:36 Hampton Beach, N.H 8:10 8:47 Plum Island 8:08 8:45 Ipswich 8:06 8:43 Gloucester 8:05 8:42 BOSTON AREA 8:08 8:45 Scituate 8:03 8:40 Plymouth 8:13 8:50 Cape Cod Canal (E) 8:07 8:44 Cape Cod Canal (W) 5:58 6:35 Falmouth 7:50 8:27 Hyannis Port 9:09 9:46 Chatham 8:38 9:15 Wellfleet 8:20 8:57 Provincetown 8:22 8:59 Nantucket Harbor 9:13 9:50 Oak Bluffs 8:38 9:15 New Bedford 4:51 5:28 Newport, R.I. 4:38 5:10 CLIMATE DATA 7 i.i. Sttiriif DttMfeaT 27 1MB BOSTON TEMPERATURES DigrNS High yesterday 39 Low 29 Mean 34 Departure from normal 3 Departure this month 53 Departure this year -144 BOSTON DEGREE-DAY DATA Degree-day units 31 Total this month 780 Total for season 1933 Total corres. date last year 1858 30-yr.

normal, corres. date 1842 BOSTON PRECIPITATION lackti Total 24 hours, ending 7 pm 0 Total this month to date 6.33 Departure from normal 2.41 Total this year 44.28 Departure from normal 1.51 SNOWFALL liclns Total today 0 Monthly total 3.2 Total for season 6.7 BAROMETER AT SEA LEVEL at 1 p.m 30.25 in. 1024.4 mbs. at 7 p.m 30.28 in. 1025.4 mbs.

7 p.m. relative humidity 58 YESTERDAY'S SUNSHINE INDEX 346 63 of possible. Boston record temps for December 28 are 63 in 1982 and -2 in 1872. Amanda Cross. More often than not, these names prove to be unknown to the questioner, which pretty well puts the lie to the notion that I have an addict stand ing in front of me.

Chandler types WEATHER RADIO Tamp CANADA Reports at noon yesterday. City Weather Calgary ptly cldy Edmonton clear Montreal clear Ottawa clear Regina clear Toronto cloudy Vancouver cloudy Winnipeg ptly cldy the National Weather Service broadcasts 24-hour weather information on 62.475 mHz at Boston and 62.55 mHz at Hyannis and Worcester. PAN AMERICA Weather and temps yesterday. Local Tamp. City Weather Time Buenos Aires pty cdy 9am 70 21 Caracas rain 8am 64 18 Lima ptly ddy 7am 69 21 Mexico City haze 6am 46 8 Rio de Janeiro cloudy 9am 76 24 clear Bam 63 17 Air quality i Because winter air tends to be less polluted than at bther times of the year, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Quality Engineering is suspending air quality reports until April.

never thought to consult the card, catalog at the library. The mystery field Is full of scholarly stuff, a little of it actually rather good, and dedicated librarians and bibliophiles have produced some valuable "finding aids," but until now, we really have not had a book for the reading equivalent of Anthony Boucher's "idiot heroine." Here it is to rescue me, so that I can guide all those eager questioners at cocktail parties around to a discussion of my current monograph on the history of barbed wire on the Nebraska frontier (1880-1882). Of course, every now and then along comes a book that demonstrates why people have trouble remembering plots, authors or titles when it comes to mystery fiction. Last year, I praised the 1985 "John Creasey's Crime this year's collection, edited by Herbert Harris, and billed as "the annual anthology of the Crime Writers' Association" (St. Martin's, could be used as a teaching manual for the unme-morable.

There are some very good writers here, and yet not one of the 16 strokes can be remembered (at least by me) 20 minutes after the reading. One wonders why 1985 should have been such a good year, 1986 so apparently without distinction. We really do need Bourgeau, after all. Happily, however, the new year begins with a fresh Tony Hil-lerman (who, according to Bourgeau, writes "the American Mystery," and since Hillerman's police officers are Navaho, one can't argue with that). "Skinwalkers" (Harper Row.

$15.95) is full of good things: characterization, vividly-realized reservation landscapes, the frisson brought by the barely known as opposed to the unknown, writing that does its job so subtly that one has to stop in order to notice, and some redeeming social values in an oblique ual series and now working together, the iiddle-aged Joe Leap-horn, worried about his wife's illness, and the younger Jim Chee, worried about his romance with i an Anglo school teacher. The mystery is about Navaho beliefs, and and in the end, about what we can truly expect to know about another culture. There are also two pretty decent journeyman books this month. Neither mystery is precisely impenetrable, but there is steadily controlled writing and a pleasant sense of plotting along the unsurprising journey. "Night Games," by Collin Wilcox (Mysterious Press, gives us Lt.

Frank Hastings again by Bourgeau's catagories, though he misspells Wilcox's name), and for those who like this kind of thing, as I do, they will like this kind of thing yet again. Paul Engleman's "Catch a Fallen Angel" (Mysterious Press, $15.95) is about murder and drugs in Chicago during the "days of rage" in 1969 and sets the publishers of two magazines remarkably like Playboy and Hustler against each other. If one likes to keep this kind of company, and I don't, there are some insights here, and the writ-; ing is sprightly. Treating 1969 as an historical novelist's stomping ground caught me by surprise, however, until I realized that all of those so-called addicts who have never heard of new authors' who are often 15 years into their careers are themselves too young to remember Judge Hoffman. No wonder Hillerman is news to them.

Robin Winks is professor of history and master of Berkley College at Yale. He reviews mysteries monthly for the Globe. are given Parker, and I suggest Estleman, Valin, Lewin, Lyons, rather as though I were recommending a good law firm. If these names are news, I know the questioner Isn't to be taken seriously. After all, what would you do if someone said, I just love Shakespeare.

Can you recommend any more like him? Bacon, perhaps? No longer need I stand around, eyeing the bar, and teach remedial mystery consumption, for there is a book that is just right for this crowd: "The Mystery Lover's Companion," compiled by Art Bourgeau (Crown, Bour-geau, who runs a bookstore in Philadelphia, has annotated some 2,500 titles under four categories, the American Mystery, the English Mystery, the Thriller and the Police Procedural. The categories seem quite wayward to me, and, with no index, one has to go digging (would you look for K. C. Con-, stantine under the American or the Procedural category? Would you even expect to find Kenneth Roberts' "Oliver Wiswell" here at all, let alone as a The selection of titles under a given author seems idiosyncratic Bourgeau shares Ross Thomas as a favorite writer and then omits two of Thomas' best books and the system of rating books with one to five daggers is, of course, quite subjective (and why waste space at all on one-dagger Still, the book delivers the goods for the "addict" who cannot remember the title, the author, perhaps even the plot of a book read some years ago, or who wants to find more books by the same author and has TH3S DAY IN HISTORY Today is Sunday. Dec.

28, the 362nd day of 1986 with three to follow. Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the United States, in 1856; jazz pianist Earl "Fatha" Hines in 1905; and actors Lew Ayres in 1908, Martin Milner in 1931, and Maggie Smith in 1934. jBIRD SIGHTINGS decent bird sightings reported by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS: Further Christmas results: Buzzards Bay recorded 110 species including 15 double-crested cormorants, a great egret, i Northern shoveller, 270 canvasbacks, 50 redheads, i barrpws golden eye, 170 herd mergansers, nine Northern harriers, eight sharp-shinned hawks, two goshawks, a pair of gun falcons, a woodcock, a snowy owl, seven short-eared owls, a red-bellied woodpecker, 89 Carolina wrens.

225 golden-crowned kinglets, 22 hermit thrushes, six catbirds, a orange-crowned warbler, three yellow brested chats, 1 1 to-whees, 55 field sparrows, a fox sparrow, a white-Jrrowned sparrow, a red crossbill, 14 common redpolls, and four pine siskin. On the Athol count: 48 epecies including two bald eagles, five wild turkeys, a Jbarred owl, a pileated woodpecker, two common ravens at the Orange dump, a Northern shrike, 320 common redpolls, eight pine siskin and 1,124 evening grosbeaks. At Morse Island and Chatham there was a gyrfalcon on Monday morning and a lesser black back gold was also seen. At Plum Island there were a short-eared owl and a Northern shrike. Also af Crane Beach were two snowy owls and a Northern strike.

At Race Point in Provincetown, there were sfght black guillemont and 20 kittiwakes. WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS: Highlights of the two lower valley Christmas counts were: a ruby crowned kinglet in Holyoke, a Carolina wren in West Springfield, two shovellers in East Longmeadow, a rough-legged hawk in Longmeadow, a great blue her-an, a gadwall. Northern shrike, and two winter wrens in Springfield. A great blue heron, mute swan, a rough-legged hawk, and a merlin were seen in Agawam; an American widgen, hermit thrush, and Lapland longspur were seen In Amherst. A merlin and white crowned sparrow were seen in Hadley; a barrows golden-eye.

rough legged hawk, harrier, red-bellied woodpecker and long-eared owl were seen in Northampton. A bald eagle was observed in Hatfield. A Northern shrike and 17 rusty black birds were sen in Sutton and good numbers of redpolls. Seen on the Athol count were horned grebe, 49 golden-eyes, 76 hooded mergansers, two bald eagles, two. ravens, a Northern shrike and three snow bunting.

New Recommended The Lottery Saturday number: 7823 Saturday payoffs (based on $1 bet) Exact order Any order All 4 digits $5,228 All 4 digits $218 First or last 3 $732 First 3 digits $122 Any 2 digits $63 Last 3 digits $122 Any 1 digit $6 Sat. Megabucks: 1 2 5 7 33 35 Wed. Megabucks: 9 11 12 24 25 30 Winning numbers for previous five days Friday 7417 Tuesday 1755 Thursday 8270 Monday 5638 Wednesday 8548 Weekly numbers In Massachusetts December 24 951-95-0 November 12 873-39-6 December 17 804-60-0 November 5 503-81-6 December 10 282-24-0 October 29 573-91-4 December 3 930-31-5 October 22 442-26-0 November 26 297-97-8 October 15 275-58-4 November 19 107-63-6 October 8 687-34-1 Other N.E. states: weekly numbers Tri-state Megabucks 4-8-16-18-23-33 Rhode Island 298-8716-49795-623666 Connecticut LOTTO 1-3-13-15-29-37 Saturday numbers FU 8564 Conn. 779 6270 Maine, N.H., Vermont Three Digit 476 Four Digit 8177 back).

Gleanings from the career of one of America's most capacious minds. The Life of Langston Hughes: Vol. I 1902-1941, 1, Too, Sing America, by Arnold Rampersad (Oxford University Press, A biography of the black poet. The Peopling of British North America (Knopf, $16.95) Voyagers to the West, by Bernard Bailyn (the latter with the assistance of Barbara DeWolfe; Knopf. $30).

The who. why and where of immigration to colonial America. Selected from books recently reviewed in the GTobe. Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, by David J.

Garrow (Morrow, An exhaustive portrait of the life and work the civil rights leader. The Complete Prose of Marianne Moore, edited by Patricia C. Willis (Elisabeth Sifton-Viking, Blurbs and all from one this century's finest poets. Fidel. A Critical Portrait, by Tad Szulc (Morrow.

Castro. Cuba and a life of intense controversy. The Lewis Mumford Reader, edited by Donald L. Miller $14.95 paper.