No Kiss for the Dying

Story Description, Book 4: No Kiss for the Dying

This book covers the years 1986-1987 and is primarily set on board HMS Edinburgh.

Excerpt:
’ ＂Hey, lads, what y’all got so much to sing about?＂ A large group of young lads had heard the stokers from their bar, Kilbeggan’s, in Rue Maréchal Foch a couple of blocks away, and had come to investigate.
The stokers had had a few jars by this time and were a bit the worse for wear. One of them, an older hand, told the young man who spoke they were just enjoying a night away from their ship.
＂You’ll be sailors then?＂ the young man continued.
’We be stokers, laddee. Engineers, and bloody good ones. Up the Royal!＂ he cried out, and his friends all raised their glasses and cheered.
＂We’re sailors also,＂ said the lad. ＂Off the ferries. And we’re having a party of our own down at Kilbeggan’s. Why don’t you join us?＂
The old stoker looked at his friends and concluded, ＂No thanks, lad, we’re quite comfortable where we are.＂
＂Perhaps we can join you then, but there’s more room at the Irish,＂ referring to Kilbeggan’s, the only Irish pub in the town.
＂Nay, lad,＂ said the stoker, getting a tad fed up with this intrusion into their drinking time. ＂We’re cosy here so you and your mates best get back to your party. If it helps you, we’ll keep the noise down. We don’t want to upset the neighbours.＂
＂Are you saying we’re not good enough to drink with you?＂ the young man was becoming annoying.
＂What he’s saying,＂ a younger stoker, stood up, clutching his glass, and spoke, ＂is that we’re happy where we are and there ain’t enough room here for all of you. So, why don’t you piss off and drag your sorry asses back to where you came from!＂
＂If there’s not enough room,＂ said the young man, with his friends gathering behind him, ＂let’s make some!＂ And he started tipping tables over, spilling the stoker’s drinks, knocking one or two of them off their chairs in the process. ’
_________________________________________

Commander Stephen Lodge RN will be away from home for much of 1986, flying the flag of his new ship in Europe. From the very first voyage, HMS Edinburgh encounters a series of incidents. They rescue the crew of a stricken yacht off Portsmouth Spit and narrowly avoid colliding with a small fishing boat during refuelling at sea. Chasing a Russian submarine through the English Channel leads them to arrive late in Cherbourg, where a pub brawl results in their expulsion back to their home port of Portsmouth. A change of commission confines them to the British Isles. However, unbeknownst to the crew, one of their senior officers is involved in illegal activities.

An Irish drugs ring is allegedly using the British Royal Navy to funnel funds to the Irish Republican Army in support of the ＂Troubles＂ in Northern Ireland, In response, the Irish Gardai installed a young spy on HMS Edinburgh. Unfortunately, the spy has gone missing, so, with the Admiralty’s agreement they hire another investigator to uncover the operations of the gang and, with the help of the ship’s captain, determine the circumstances of their agent’s disappearance.

Terminally ill Sir Geoffrey Cheeseman has kept his condition private and refuses to retire before his seventy-first birthday in 1987 when he has arranged for Stephen Lodge to take over the work of the STaG team. Sir Geoffrey’s stubbornness prevails -- he wants no fuss about his illness -- and when confronted he will not allow sympathy to interfere with his work. ＂There shall be no kiss for the dying,＂ he says.