Daniel Ambler is an author.
More importantly and specifically, he is a spy novelist and apparently successfully famous enough to be asked to speak at important functions. Amusingly, as we meet him in the first recorded adventure, he tells a friend about a recent speaking engagement at a university cancelled because a few pro-Palestinian students objected to a Jewish author being allowed to give a talk at their school - the amusing part coming from the fact that their labeling him as Jewish came from his first name totally ignoring the fact that he is a lapsed Catholic. Ambler might be annoyed at such mistakes but he is neither angered nor surprised by them. He reminds his friend that Lenin once referred to college professors and their students as "useful idiots".
His black hair, peppered with a few grey hairs, was cropped short. He "looked good for his age, despite rather than because of the drink. He certainly looked better than he often felt. His expression could be calm, contented, stoical or bored - depending on the circumstances, and how much drink he consumed."
Ambler became well known and respected in the literary community first with several biographies of prominent Russians such as Chekhov and Pushkin. He followed up those with, over the last decade, several highly successful spy novels. It would be those that would inadvertently lead to his membership here. Three years previous to our meeting him, he was innocently asked to consult on Russian history professor by an old friend at MI6. He was photographed leaving River House and when asked by reporters if he was an actual spy, he honestly said no. As one commentator would put it, "Denial somehow meant confirmation, whilst confirmation would not mean denial." His fame increased.
As we encounter him, that denial will turn, through no real wishes on Ambler's part, to truth when another simple request for simple help will turn out to be nowhere near simple.
Good Lines:
- Written by Ambler half-jokingly in a profile piece about his short hair: "[It] is one less thing to worry about, so I can spend more time with my depression".
- Thoughts of one of Ambler's fictional characters: "Ignorance is bliss. Feigning ignorance can have its benefits too".