Jessica left the column two years ago having been advised by her father, the bow tie wearing Paul Callan, that five years was enough as a gossip columnist.
Now she has written a memoir of her time on the column. She was working as a reporter on The Daily Telegraph's Peterborough column when Matthew Wright decided to leave his column and go off and become a television star at Five.
Then Mirror editor Piers Morgan and showbiz chief Richard Wallace (now editor) hired Callan, Polly Graham (Wright's legman on the column) and Eva Simpson to run the new column.
So begins the behind-the-scenes tales of what it was like to work on one of the most famous gossip columns in Britain - five years of nightclubs, drinking, world travel and some more drinking.
Wicked Whispers is entertaining enough but I wonder who it is aimed at. There are no startling revelations, unsurprising really as Callan's former bosses at the Mirror may have wondered why she didn't put them in her column.
Journalists are alongside politicians and estate agents among the most loathed people in the country. So, Callan won't sell any books on the back of her profession. Ah, you say, what about books by journalists Andrew Neil, Max Hastings and Piers Morgan which have all done well? They were all editors and their reminiscences featured Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown et al. Callan's book features Jordan and Jimmy Nesbitt.
I can't see the Heat generation splashing out £17 for a book about stories that are up to seven years old when they can their weekly dose of goss for a couple of quid a week.
The book, irritatingly, has no index (I bet the lawyers refused to let one be included) and unlike Piers Morgan's two books has no cast list so the reader can often forget who Tom or Kev or Uncle Dicky is. In case you are interested they are Tom Newton Dunne (Callan's ex-boyfriend), Kevin O'Sullivan (now Sunday Mirror TV critic) and Richard Wallace.
