Lisa sent me The Ruby in the Smoke by Phillip Pullman (author of the excellent His Dark Materials Trilogy: The Golden Compass / The Subtle Knife / The Amber Spyglass books. Finished it tonight -- a nice quick, but fun read. I definitely liked the characters and would like to read the other ones in this series. I'm still sorry that Hanna and I never made it to the stage version of His Dark Materials in London (though Aunt Susan reported hating it).