Bestselling thriller author Linda Howard, whose latest, Open Season, has been another Pocket Books success, is the latest big name to move over to Ballantine, where president and publisher Gina Centrello took world rights to her next four novels. Howard's next, Dying to Please , will appear in hardcover next summer, and in paperback the following year, a pattern to be repeated with each of the new titles. Howard's editor will be editorial director Linda Marrow (also formerly at Pocket), and the deal was signed with agent Robin Rue at Writer's House.