Progress with the next novel

At the moment I'm working pretty solidly on Number Three novel - a mystery thriller that's a bit Gothic and a bit 'noirish'.  I was working on Number Three and Number Four at the same time for a while, but am in that pleasantly obsessive phase now where the characters of Number Three seem all fleshed out and leaving me needing to tell their story.  Like an addiction.  I know pretty much where they're going and why - all those elements having revealed themselves through lots of brief observations about them - and so I'm enjoying playing with the words, discovering the nuances of meaning and letting their actions and intentions speak louder than their words.  It's a slow process, this weighing of words, but one I delight in.  I'm about 25,000 words into this phase at the moment and hoping (perhaps a little optimistically) that everything will be in place by the end of the year.  I'm a slow writer, but it's something to aim for.