Clown Town

Old spies grow ridiculous River. Old spies aren't much better than clowns. Or so David Cartwright used to say but he forgot to add they can be dangerous too especially if they've fallen on hard times - as Diana Taverner learns when the past lands on her desk. An operation carried out during the height of the Troubles laid bare the ugly side of state security and those involved are threatening to expose details. But every threat hides an opportunity... The O.B. himself is long buried and has left his library to the Spooks' College where it turns out that one of the books has gone missing. Or perhaps never existed. River Cartwright has time to kill while waiting to be passed fit for work and investigating the secrets of his grandfather's library seems a harmless activity. But nothing involving the slow horses stays harmless for long.