The Mischief Makers (novel)

(CC) Photo: Clayton Evans
William Haggard on the back cover of The Conspirators, 1967

Authors [about]: Hayford Peirce and others. CZ is an open collaboration. Please join in to develop this article!

The Conspirators is a 1982 suspense novel by the British author William Haggard published in England by Cassell and in the United States by Walker and Company. It was Haggard's 21st novel involving his protagonist Colonel Charles Russell, who had been been the head of the semi-secret government agency, the Security Executive, during the first 11 books and is then frequently consulted by his successors during his retirement. Like a number of other works by Haggard and his near contemporaries Victor Canning and Michael Gilbert, it is both a standard novel of suspense and a political thriller about the something something something amorality and subsequent lethal reactions of those in the highest government positions when confronted by seemingly trivial events that blossom uncontrollably into perceived challenges to their positions.

Plot

Written with Haggard's usual spare, dry, and understated style, etc etc etc

Refers often to the Bristol race riot of 1980, which would have happened the previous year in terms of the book, I guess. WP calls this the 1980 St. Pauls riot, with no period after the St.