During the autumn of 1983 Phil Featherstonehaugh's humdrum existence as an analyst in the lower reaches of the Security Services was changed dramatically when he volunteered to oversee a Strathclyde Police investigation into an alleged IRA plot to assassinate the Prince of Wales. Initially skeptical Phil finds himself trapped in a web of lies and deceit as his new friends in Glasgow's Special Branch reveal their own agenda for the investigation which threatens secrets his own organisation would do almost anything to protect! Torn between following orders and helping to bring a suspected War Criminal to Justice Phil struggles through an intense investigation with multiple suspects which culminates in a terrifying explosion of violence which changes Phil's life forever. Along the way he encounters a swathe of complex characters all with their own agendas, from the tough Glasgow Special Branch Inspector Chic Gordon to the enigmatic undercover cop Melanie Kerr plus hardline Loyalist Rueben Snodgrass and Polish World War Two veteran Franz Zuck.
