The Anatomist by Federico Andahazi (Anchor, £6.99 in UK)

Set in a vaguely atmospheric 16th century Italy this slickly clever, somewhat lopsided yarn about a famous if troublesome doctor who discovers the secret of all women has its moments. Mateo Colombo, the anatomist, has a flair for irritating the authorities and appears destined to live in one of two places: near the edge or beyond it. Presented from the outset as a calculating opportunist, he has his weaknesses and falls in love with a beautiful prostitute who shuns him. This sets him off on an investigative mission intent on finding a way to win her. And so he discovers the clitoris. The Name of the Rose meets Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow in a narrative which moves clumsily through a series of disjointed setpieces and historical references. Although many of the cracks are smoothed by the welcome black humour, sensationalist effect and curtly economic chapters, it is a smug, knowing, self-congratulatory, utterly unerotic performance which you will either love or hate - and boy, did I hate it.