Former BBC Newsnight presenter Maureen has worked extensively in newspapers, radio and television. She still freelances in the business, when she's not busy novel writing. As a journalist she's worked closely with the police, covering countless crime stories, including several murders. She's also interviewed victims and seen villains sent down.Maureen was inspired to write Working Girls by a police pilot scheme to treat younger prostitutes as victims rather than criminals."It set me thinking about women on the game," she says. "What made a girl risk her health, and her life, night after night? What, if any, choice did she have? I wondered: could I combine appealing characters from this largely ignored section of society with a measure of social comment and produce an engaging and entertaining crime novel?"