22 MAY 1993, page 28

Between The Desert And The Deep Blue Sea

David Profumo CLEOPATRA'S SISTER by Penelope Lively Viking, £14.99, pp. 282 P erhaps it is because she knows how to write for children, but whatever the reason Penelope Lively......

A Soft, Honest, Put-upon Killer

Frederic Raphael MR CAPONE by Robert J. Schoenberg Robson, £22.95, pp. 480 ess time separated the Great Fire of Chicago in 1871 from the era of Prohibi- tion than separates us......