I swear, after this post I'll stop because repeat after me: this book will not sell outside of London, New York and possibly LA. But since I threw out a guess yesterday that - should Ali Gunn be working the deal on her own behalf - Brian Freeman might be the American author in question, it's only fair to publish his response. "Glad you think it's me, but a satirical novel set in London doesn't really sound like me, does it?" wrote Freeman yesterday evening by email. Instead, he's deep into the fourth crime novel featuring Minnesota-based police detective Jonathan Stride (while #3, STALKED, will be out in the UK in September and in the US early next year.)

Otherwise, Author Amanda Lees submitted her guess to Publishing News: "Having read the piece on Ego...I am pretty certain that the agent concerned is Simon Trewin - a certain intriguing clue in the name of his victim underpins my suspicions! As for the author involved, it's probably his client, Jon Fasman." An interesting guess as Fasman's only novel to date, THE GEOGRAPHER'S LIBRARY, was published back in 2005. If Lees is right, Gunn has promised dinner at The Ivy. And if she isn't, that another guess out there to fan the flames for a book that, well, why bother repeating myself, right?