The `burnt out' novelist rarely spent more than three weeks in one place, his biographer tells Vanessa Thorpe

A growing number of collectors are focusing on first editions of famous writers. An

PROJECTIONS 8 eds John Boorman and Walter Donahue, Faber pounds 12.99

THE devil has many masks. Most recently, it has emerged in the form of a 41-year-old mother called Mary Bell. A few of us, including Gitta Sereny and myself, believe that these devils are the figment of heated overripe imaginations. Peel back the mask and you'll find a very human face.

You scratch my back, I'll stab yours ...Valentine Cunningham finds blood on the books pages

Klaxons, Trumpets and Raspberries, Gate Theatre, London W11 (0171- 229 0706)

James Hanley's fame bobs up and down like a cork on the waves that he sailed.

As two nations wait for the judgment on Louise Woodward, what are we praying for, justice or mercy? Huw Spanner wonders if there is a choice.

The novelist Graham Greene (right) lost huge sums of money in a money- laundering racket run by the Hollywood mafia which led to him living in tax exile after an "agreement" with the Inland Revenue, according to a controversial new biography.

'I wish I had a friend like me," proclaims Richie in Joe Penhall's new play Love and Understanding. It's sad to say that this is a minority sentiment. Richie is to friendship what nemesis is to a relaxing holiday. Charismatically portrayed by Paul Bettany, he's a decadent, self-deceived drifter, who has spent the best part of his twenties bumming around the world in search of instant kicks and pretending to be a brooding Graham Greene creation.

THE UNTOUCHABLE by John Banville Picador pounds 15.99

The Anglo-Dutch publishing group Reed-Elsevier said yesterday it had agreed to sell the adult trade division of Reed Books to publisher Random House. It gave no financial details but said it intends to sell the rest of Reed Books in due course, which comprises the children's, illustrated and reference divisions.

The winner of the pounds 150-worth of books from The Folio Society will be announced next weekend. The challenge: to name the best books of the last fifty years. Is this the line up which will coincide closest to the top ten nominated by literary editor Boyd Tonkin?

The most important private archive of works relating to the author Graham Greene is to go up for auction in what will be one of the biggest literary sales of the year.