Secret State

Charley Mackensie's disappearance fascinated people in Central Scotland for twenty years. How could the academically gifted daughter of a well-known Perth family, a high-flying civil servant simply disappear from the face of the earth? More importantly, why had she disappeared? Newspapers at the time suggested that she was employed by the Home Office on secondment from the Ministry of Defence. They hinted that her employment was the reason for her disappearance. Few speculated on what became of her Irish folk singing boyfriend who vanished at the same time. The pair disappeared while on an extended stay to his family home in South Armagh in 1984. Paul Kelly stumbled into journalism after leaving Glasgow University. He worked for a small newspaper in a little town near Perth. He came across the Charley Mackensie story by accident. Paul became obsessed by this missing person story. Also obsessed with Charley was her infatuated first boyfriend Callum. Paul tracked down Callum and together they chased down clues about Charley eventually ending up in Lima Peru. Paul felt if he could find the underlying cause of the disappearance he could write 'the' story of a lifetime. Callum just wanted to be reunited with his long-lost love. Paul and Callum were not alone in their pursuit of Charley Mackensie. Her mysterious disappearance attracted intelligence services and sinister elements who followed their every move, threatening all attempts at a solution to the mystery.