Like a time-lapsed game of Whack-a-Mole, Carole Baron ducked out of sight last month only to reappear this week as Bookspan's new VP. Leaving Penguin, where she served as President of Putnam and Dutton, she was -- as PW put it -- "non-committal" about her future plans.

"It's time for me to let go of the day-to-day detail and concentrate on taking a look at the larger picture of our industry," [Baron] wrote. "I look forward to being involved in publishing in a way that will take advantage of my years of experience and at the same time always allow me that exquisite pleasure of working with writers."

In her new role, Baron will be performing such vague duties as "[maintaining] and [building] Bookspan's strong relationships within the publishing community," negotiating with book club editors, and "[strengthening] Bookspan's editorial strategy, specifically [addressing] new approaches to promoting books and improving cross-club usage."