This holiday season cards caught me up on the lives of friends from all over the country. In an audio parallel, tapes provided literary catch up as I listened to recent mysteries by writers and readers I admire.

Kinsey's back and so is reader Judy Kaye in Sue Grafton's Q is for Quarry (Random House Audio,$39.95, unabridged, eight cassettes, 13 hours). Kinsey helps two police officers who have been trying to discover the identity of a "Jane Doe" for eighteen years. Once partners, now the two are old and ill, and Kinsey determined to get them the rest they deserve.

The past also haunts the two heroes of Jonathan Kellerman's The Murder Book (Random House Audio, $39.95, unabridged, 10 cassettes, 15 hours). Alex Delware, child psychologist, is sent a book of murder scene photographs which include his friend, Milo Sturgis' first unsolved crime. As a rookie detective, Milo couldn't find the killer of a young teenager who was raped, tortured, and strangled. More information and Alex's aid lead him to success. But it's a success filled with struggles as both heroes reflect on unresolved issues from their past.

Dave Robicheaux, the Louisiana detective returns in James Lee Burke's Jolie Blon's Bounce (Recorded Books, $49.95?, unabridged, 11 cassettes, 15 hours). When two women are found raped and murdered, Robicheaux wants to prove the guilt of Legion, an evil character who seems more Satanic than human. Burke's skillful detailing roots the story in reality. His strong characters and local-color settings make for rich imagining. Mark Hammer's rusty voice is a perfect representation of Robicheaux's weariness in battling crime, alcohol, and his past.

James Patterson's hero, Alex Cross, is tired, too. He's considering retirement when a new case erupts in Four Blind Mice. (TimeWarner Audio Books, $29.98, unabridged, five cassettes, seven and a half hours) Alex's best buddy, John Sampson, begs Alex to free a friend from Death Row. Alex can't save the man, but becomes intrigued by patterns of brutal murders and a potential government cover up. The bizarre case is solved, but the changes in Cross' personal life become the bigger mystery. Fans will be eager for a speedy sequel.

Anne Perry's new Victorian history mystery, Death of a Stranger is read by David Colacci (Brilliance Audio, $34.95, unabridged, eight cassettes, approx. 11 hours). Perry's married sleuths, Hester and William Monk, work independently to solve the murder of a prominent railroad magnate who has died at the hands of a prostitute. Police crackdowns aggravate the already difficult lives of the prostitutes Hester's trying to help, while William's failed memory is stirred with concerns that he is somehow responsible for the death. Both sleuths approach the murder from different angles and their separate solutions untangle the mystery brilliantly. Colacci's got the dramatic reading angles covered, from his starched upper class voices to throaty broader speech for the lower class characters.

Futuristic detective Eve Dallas fights computer terrorism in J.D. Robb's Purity in Death, read by Susan Eriksen (Brilliance Audio, $24.95, abridged, four cassettes, approx. six hours). A string of homicides are initiated by a computer virus meant to "purify" New York. Eve's assisted by her tech-savvy husband, Roarke and a team of familiar characters. Ericksen, who's read all the "In Death" series, moves easily from Roarke's Irish brogue, to computer voices, to the New York accents of Dallas' police colleagues.

Patricia Cornwell's written an amazing first non-fiction book, Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed (PutnamBerkley Audio, $49.95, unabridged, 10 cassettes, 131/2 hours) Cornwell's proof is conclusive and engrossing. Cornwell draws on her medical and journalistic background, flawless period research, reflections on scientific advances, revelations about past crime practices, and involving style. She integrates all these into a magnificent and convincing whole! Kate Reading who's performed the Scarpetta novels, gives an excellent reading which bridges Cornwell's fiction and non-fiction work.