Any Lengths to Please is a uniquely entertaining compendium by BAFTA-nominated screenwriter and acclaimed novelist Paul A. Mendelson. A short story, a novella, a medium-sized novel and a brief literary ‘confection’, designed to whet any appetite.

The shortest, Einstein, is a quirky love story, set in New York State, about a young woman finding her Mr Wrong.

I Can’t be Ill, I’m a Hypochondriac is a semi-autobiographical and wryly poignant tale about the effect on a family when a member is diagnosed with a serious cancer. It tells how life and work don’t stop – they just become infinitely more fraught.

Lost Souls, the novel, is a laugh-out-loud, larger-than-life fable. It tells of how the scuzziest guy in LA, a soulless, dissolute ‘porn’-broker, has to find love in five days with the kindest, least-worldly soul around, a scruffy Lake District shepherdess, or go straight to Hell!

A Perfect Murder Story, a brief ‘confection’, is told entirely in letters from a script-editing agency to a would-be scriptwriter. But what sort of plot does the fledgling scribe really have in mind?

Paul A. Mendelson is a BAFTA-nominated screenwriter and author. He has created several much-loved BBC comedies, including May to December and My Hero, and also the Martin Clunes cancer drama Losing It. His work is shown in the UK, US and all over the world. He has also written seven acclaimed novels, including two for middle-grade children. Three have been optioned for movies. Paul lives in London.