Ever see a variable not resolve in a Query?

I couldn't find anything like this in the archives (or the FAQ) Here is my query: $extopic4 = "INSERT into entries (CREATOR, CREATED, COMMENT, APPROVER, "; $extopic4 .= "APPROVED, TITLE, ABSTRACT, BODY, ENT_TYPE, ABLOB, BOARDID) VALUES"; $extopic4 .= " ('$aoumem', '$today', '$aorbit_comment_access', 'NULL', 'NULL', "; $extopic4 .= "'$orbit_msgboard_title', '$orbit_msgboard_description', 'NULL', "; $extopic4 .= "'Message','NULL', $boardid)"; I have numerous print statements (and I do query or die). So I know $boardid is being set to an integer in the previous mysql_query. I pull the result properly. However, it will not resolve in this query. Here's where the queries get called: // get the topicid $mysql_result = mysql_query($extopic3, $dbh) or die("Query: $extopic3<BR>\n" . mysql_error()); $topicrec = mysql_fetch_array($mysql_result); $topicid = $topicrec["ID"]; // return boardid $result = mysql_query($extopic2, $dbh) or die("Query: $extopic2<BR>\n" . mysql_error()); $boardid = mysql_insert_id($result); print "<h2>board ID is $boardid</h2>"; // putting everything else in its places print "<h2>about to put the $boardid into $extopic4</h2>"; $result3 = mysql_query($extopic4, $dbh) or die("Query: $extopic4<BR>\n" . mysql_error());; And here's what shows up in my window: board ID is 21 about to put the 21 into INSERT into entries (CREATOR, CREATED, COMMENT, APPROVER, APPROVED, TITLE, ABSTRACT, BODY, ENT_TYPE, ABLOB, BOARDID) VALUES ('rjackson', 'FridayMay19, 2000', 'Member', 'NULL', 'NULL', 'Lara\'s 21st test', 'This is a test to put a board under an existing topic. Keeping prefs the same.', 'NULL', 'Message','NULL', ) Query: INSERT into entries (CREATOR, CREATED, COMMENT, APPROVER, APPROVED, TITLE, ABSTRACT, BODY, ENT_TYPE, ABLOB, BOARDID) VALUES ('rjackson', 'FridayMay19, 2000', 'Member', 'NULL', 'NULL', 'Lara\'s 21st test', 'This is a test to put a board under an existing topic. Keeping prefs the same.', 'NULL', 'Message','NULL', ) You have an error in your SQL syntax near ')' at line 1 Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, Thank you so much, Lara