Ami McKay

Not many newer authors have impressed me lately and it was a distinct flyer when I responded to lovereading.co.uk's offer of an advance copy of a book by someone I'd never heard of, in return for a review. They accepted my begging letter, sent me a copy and, I have to say, I struck gold. In only her second novel, Ami McKay has produced a wonderful book (review to follow shortly).

I do like to depart from the detective fiction now and again and you can't get much farther away than The Virgin Cure - a tale of a 12 year old girl living in a New York slum in the nineteeth century, groomed for prostitution to a rich pervert. Difficult subject matter, difficult period. Was I going to get something mawkish, at best a cross between Pretty Baby and Angela's Ashes? Nope, I got a fine novel, one that is winning prize after prize and deservedly so.

G4S Gets Cabinet Contract From Conservatives

Eyebrows were raised today when Conservative Central Office announced that G4S has been awarded a contract to manage the forthcoming Cabinet shuffle. The value of the contract has not been announced but shares in G4S leapt 10% when the news broke.

A smiling David Cameron said, "this is a great opportunity for Britain. We're limiting the programme to ministers initially but it could be extended to the whole of the house. It's an ideal way to streamline the process and save money."

Michael Connelly: Void Moon Review

An interesting change of focus by Connelly - Void Moon's hero is a crook and a female crook at that. Cassie Black is on probation after serving part of a sentence for robbery and felony murder. She and her now-dead partner Max used to specialise in stealing the winnings from high-rollers in Las Vegas, until their last caper ended in Max falling a couple of hundred feet through an interior window.

Cassie was pregnant at the time, else she'd have been the one trapped in a hotel room. Convicted and imprisoned, bereft of lover Max, depressed, she gives her baby up for adoption but keeps track of her. She wangles a probation in the child's home city and watches from afar - a glimpse at the school gates just feeding the ache. Now the adoptive family is planning a move abroad.