John O'Connor of Blackwater Press said that in recent years Bertie Ahern, John Bruton and Albert Reynolds had all become taoiseach within six weeks of launching a book from his stable. As Mary Harney launched Killers by Stephen Rae last week, he wondered what was in store for her. She replied that it may be said the Tanaiste is only a heartbeat away from the Taoiseach, but Bertie was a lot fitter than she was. In fact he was very well and she did not expect any development of this kind in the next six weeks. The book may be called Killers, but the Tanaiste made it clear she is not contemplating that route to the top. In fact, as she pointed out, there's nothing frivolous about a book which details 10 recent murders in which the majority of victims are women. Such murders, Harney said, not only affected the relatives, but the whole of society. While each one was very serious, the murder of Veronica Guerin was the most serious of all because it struck at one of the pillars of democracy. She was concerned at the number of missing women, but she had confidence in the new Garda initiative.