It's tacky, for sure. But then it comes from Taki. The revelation that the Spectator's society commentator had a personal (in every sense) correspondence with JD Salinger is causing consternation around literary desks

Taki is claiming that he has "hundreds of letters" from the author of The Catcher In The Rye and that "as soon as my pen pal died I contacted both the sainted editor of the Speccie as well as our executive editor. Both doubted my story but immediately changed their minds when I produced the proof."

Even more than his choice of penpal, fans of Salinger are likely to be dismayed by what Taki has revealed about the contents of what he insists is a genuine correspondence. It's nasty stuff, including the claim that the sexually frustrated Salinger wrote Catcher to "punish" the "bitches".

Salinger adds "The people who use the word love are all phonies, starting with that jerk Bono. The only man I trust and whom I've never met is Taki, the Greek Spectator correspondent."

And so he reveals to the Greek his loathing of modern Britain, Martin Amis, VS Naipaul, Christopher Hitchens... Taki claims he cannot go into further details at this stage "for legal reasons" but promises that more will be revealed once Salinger's will is probated.

Here at guardian.co.uk/books, we're really not sure if we want him to keep that promise.

Fortunately we will be spared as Spectator political editor Fraser Nelson has come clean to the Guardian that the letters are a spoof by Taki. Was anyone amused?