If you're into really dark stuff Untouchable by Ava Marsh (Corgi) R180An accomplished debut here, set in the allegedly sophisticated world of high-end prostitution. Grace is a London escort who at first seems a deeply flawed character, but becomes something of a crusader when another escort is found murdered in a hotel room.Unconvinced that this was a random act of violence by a deranged client, Grace does a little digging and soon finds herself in a huge mess with some very nasty thugs. Gritty, no-holds-barred stuff.The issueIt's Women's Month and once again for the annual unhinged rant from editor Helen Moffett. (The title of her 2013 screed, Fuck Women's Day. FUCK IT, should give you an idea of her thinking in this regard.) This year's piece, Women's Day Must Fall, can be found on bookslive.co.za. In it, she gives a shout out to Pumla Dineo Gqola's Rape: A South African Nightmare (Jacana),which she describes as "one of the most important books you'll ever read".Gqola tackles the issue head-on but is especially rigorous in her examination of President Jacob Zuma's 2006 rape trial and her unpacking of feminist responses to high-profile acts of gender-based violence, like the Anene Booysen case. Harrowing, but essential.Crash courseOne man who visited a heap of violence against women in his life is Robert "Iceberg Slim" Beck (1918-1992). A notorious whoremonger and hustler who served several prison sentences before giving up crime, he went on to write an extraordinary memoir, Pimp: The Story of My Life (1967) and a string of underground pulp novels in the 1960s and '70s that gave contemporary African American culture and "blaxploitation" much of its urban edge.He inspired generations of writers and artists. (The rappers Ice-T and Ice Cube both copied his name).There's renewed interest in Slim and his "street lit", thanks to Street Poison: The Biography of Iceberg Slim (Doubleday), an acclaimed new work by Justin Gifford. It's not pretty stuff, and Gifford's not offering a redemption story here. Slim was a dangerous thug and Gifford's unapologetic portrayal of his subject's repugnant brutality is startling. As one review put it: "This isn't hagiography . . . while addressing the gaudier aspects of pimp culture - again, popularised by Slim - Gifford is careful to avoid sensationalism or glorification, despite the occasional foray into Slim's own streetwise vernacular. Ultimately, Street Poison is a compulsively readable story of an unseemly man, whose legacy was as unforeseeable as it was impactful."Bottom line"Indeed, sometimes, when I look for my glasses while wearing my glasses, I think, 'My, my, it's going to be a very smooth transition to dementia'." - Let's Be Less Stupid: An Attempt to Maintain My Mental Faculties by Patricia Marx (Twelve)..