Nettle Grabbers

About the Book

"Let fiction meant to please be living near to truth"
-Horace

Operation Nettle Grabbers was the name ascribed to an investigation ordered by the Home Secretary into the activities of the Birmingham Serious Crime Squad. The Head of MI5 thought that the title illustrated the need for decisive action by his agents.

What was not anticipated was that by 1974 the Operation would no longer be a game between MI5 and new West Midlands Police Serious Crime Squad. A new player had entered the game. The Provisional IRA had manÏuvred itself into a position whereby it could exploit the weakness in British security.

Thus in the 1970's a deadly game was under way which culminated in the bombing of Birmingham by the IRA in 1974.

Nettle Grabbers takes us into the minds of players engaged in a life and death battle in the field. Their situation aggravated by the need for the Head of MI5 to balance state security against the competing interests of the British ruling classes.

The Head of the Birmingham Serious Crime Squad has identified nettles but is he confused? Is he blinded to the presence of the IRA in his quest to safeguard his empire?

The Head of the IRA English Department is not confused. He has identified the nettles and has a plan to neutralise them. But he has problems. He has diverted IRA funds to a secret account in the Cayman Islands. Ironically the only person he can trust is the Head of MI5.

About the Author

Christopher McKeogh was born into a large family in the Irish midlands. Shortly before his fifteenth birthday he moved to England. He served in the Royal Military Police in the mid 1960s after which he served eleven years as a police officer in the English Midlands.In the 1990s he read law at the University of Central England.