Aha! Not found the book but found this snippet about the Finuge weekend

We were lcuky enought to catch this event about five or six years ago. It was wonderful. Anyway - Why you may not be able to see the link is the original McCarthy title is, apparantly 'Mountain Tae', as you will spot about halfway down the home page.

Mystery solved. It was the caretaker in a mask all along...

:D