Talk about life imitating art... <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6722553.ece" target="_blank">given the stories coming out of Italy at the moment</a> about Silvio Berlusconi can I make a couple of things clear right now. Next year's Nic Costa book, <em>The Blue Demon</em>, concerns a sleazy Italian prime minister and a G8 summit in Rome.

It was finished more than a year ago in 2008. In fact when it was begun Berlusconi hadn't even clawed his way back into power. I don't imagine that will stop some people claiming I'm chasing the news with this one. But honest -- the book was finished long before the present bizarre scandal began to raise its head. And the character in the book, as I hope the story makes clear, most definitely isn't <em>Il Cavaliere,</em> even if they do share a few of the same characteristics.