Keen-eyed readers will remember that, some time ago, Diary revealed to the local government world that London Councils director of finance, Guy Ware, leads a double life as a writer of fiction.
While Graph-God Guy by day ponders the viability of fully retained business rates in the capital, Wordsmith Ware has been lurking in the shadows, churning out chapters on a dusty old typewriter – something like Jack Torrance in The Shining.
His latest novel, Reconciliation, is both a tale of Norwegian wartime espionage and an exploration of the nature of storytelling, set in Orkney. Talk about scope.
It is a book about lies and deceptions and asks the reader to question the validity of the truths we cling onto.
But this new offering tells us yet more about the mysterious Jekyll and Hyde statistician-cum-author.
Twin-talented Ware reveals in the introduction – whether or not we are to believe it – that his own grandfather was a spy who escaped Nazi-occupied Norway in 1940.
We can see where Mr Ware gets his proclivity for duo-personas from.
Diary patiently awaits a signed copy.
