If, by some completely implausible fluke, there is still someone in the world who has read a novel by Evan Hunter and not been aware of the fact that he also writes under an AKA, or someone else who has read a novel by Ed McBain and ditto, then when those two someones come across Candyland this unlikely state of affairs will come to an end, because the dust jacket doesn't mince its words. Evan is Ed, and always has been. Well, since the early sixties, anyway. Before that they were both someone with an Italian name. The first part of this novel is by Evan, the second part by Ed. This means that the first part is the thoughtful and issue-raising bit and the second is the crime-solving bit. The subject under the microscope is sex addiction, and if Michael Douglas had to receive treatment for it and Nigel Benn nearly topped himself because of it, we have to accept that it can be a problem for some men. Benjamin Thorpe is one of them. His activities in New York while away from his wife on a business trip highlight what happens to an ordinary man when the only thing on his mind is sex. It is riveting stuff. What he gets up to between the conclusion of his business as an architect, and his flight back to L.A. at 8.30 the next morning, may or may not link him to the rape and murder of a prostitute whose specialty is the little girl look - baby doll nightie, shaved pudenda and so on. Investigating the crime is Emma, a divorcee in her thirties who, because she is a dedicated cop who works long hours, has been forced to cede custody of her young daughter to her former husband's mother. Because Emma is a cop who works in the Special Crimes Unit and therefore deals with rape and rape victims, it's not difficult to understand why she's not exactly mad about the male of the species. McBain fans may be initially disappointed that this isn't a case for the 87th, but fear not, once the investigation is under way is doesn't matter that Carella and company are busy in another part of the city. Whereas Ed hardly ever fails, Evan has written one or two weak books - think The Chisholms or Streets of Gold - but in Candyland he's on the sort of form he was on in the two Conversation novels. All in all, it's a cracking read and when you get to the end there, on the jacket back flap, for the first time, are Evan and Ed standing next to each other in the same photograph. Maybe they are two different writers after all.