Inside Jan McKemmish there is a good short story writer trying to get out. A Gap in the Records is a novel about an international female intelligence apparatus. At its heart is the story of an assassination of a crook, Crane, by an agent of the apparatus, Mary Stevens.

McKemmish wastes no space – not a line, not an adverb – in getting Mary Stevens to Hong Kong and into the confidence of Crane. She is at the races, at the ballet, swimming in his pool, dancing at his club. Her life is ascetic (minimum alcohol, yoga, no sex) and dedicated.