The Darley Anderson Literary celebrated its fifteenth birthday last week with a grand party at Dartmouth House in Mafair. It was a generous affair, with an unending supply of champagne and cocktails and lots of tempting canapés, and toward the end of the evening - the better to absorb the alcohol - bacon butties.It was something of a love-in, with the eponymous Darley Anderson praising the work of his team, nicknamed Darley's Angels, and his gallery of authors many of whom - Elizabeth Waite, Martina Cole, Lee Child, Lesley Pearse and John Connolly - made for speeches, For Pearse, Anderson is "the dream maker" and he's certainly made a few dreams come true these past 15 years, enriching his authors beyond their wildest dreams. Sadly Anderson's partner , Adele, who died suddenly last year, wasn't able to live out her dreams and the agent was close to tears as he bravely paid fulsome tribute to her. Publishers, who included Penguin's Helen Fraser, Headline's Clare Foss and Random House's Susan Sandon - many of whom knew Adele - were visibly moved. But it was by no means a down-beat affair - indeed Connolly provided the evening's stand-up ragging poor Anderson mercilessly over his sartorial tastes, which run to white suits, pink jackets and loud ties.

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