Tales of the City, the much-loved series of books by Armistead Maupin about life in San Francisco in the 1980s, still has the same inimitable mix of romance, friendship, and suspense, but now reads with a sweetly elegiac (if there is such a thing) refrain -- as AIDS hit the city hard and the sense of community rose in proportion to the sense of loss.

Mr. Maupin is too canny to call his just-published book, Michael Tolliver Lives, a sequel to that series, even though the character of Tolliver was central to the Tales and most of the old gang turns up one way or another. Calling it a 'sequel' might raise expectations too high; then again, Mr. Maupin may be saying you can't go home again.

Whatever his reasons, for those who grew up on this one-of-a-kind series, the new novel will be a greatbigbearhug.