The Lost Skin (novel)

The Lost Skin was the fourth novel in the Lethbridge-Stewart line of hardcover novellas.

It was released by Candy Jar Books in 2018 after its first three parts had been printed as short stories in The HAVOC Files 2 and 3.

Publisher's summary
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is on leave in New York, but in Scotland word reaches the Fifth Operational Corps that Harold Chorley, journalist and pain in Lethbridge-Stewart's rear, has got wind of the Corps' presence in Stirling.

A plan is set in motion to take Chorley on a wild goose chase to John o Groats, as far from the Corps as possible. RSM Samson Ware and Professor Travers travel to the edge of Scotland, leaving a trail of breadcrums, which are picked by Chorley and his old chum, Larry Greene.

But it soon becomes clear that there is a real mystery in John o Groats, a strange link between Mhairi Docherty, a woman from Huna, and the Orkney Islands, and the local legend of the Selkie. To protect Mhairi, Samson needs to sideline Chorley and Greene, but the ever-erratic Professor Travers has other plans.

What is drawing Mhairi to the Orkney Islands? What hold does Chorley have over Greene? And, more importantly, what links Chorley and Greene to the secret history of Mhairi?

Plot
to be added

Characters

 * Doctor Anne Travers
 * Professor Edward Travers
 * Harold Chorley
 * Larry Greene
 * Regimental Sergeant Major Samson Ware
 * Second Lieutenant William Bishop
 * Mhairi Docherty (Princess Kalfey)
 * Charlie Redfern
 * Catriona McLeod
 * Flora
 * Arthur Butler
 * Theresa Butler
 * Mr Butler
 * Walter Douglas
 * Lance Corporal Sally Wright
 * Private Rhys Rubery
 * Mick Gibney
 * Kathy Lanahan
 * Bridie Gibney
 * Cailean Gordanach
 * Gareksey Orrabein

Worldbuilding

 * Harold Chorley's real name is revealed to be Michael Gibney, and he was born in Monaghan, Ireland. Larry Greene was his brother, real name Patrick Lanahan.

Continuity

 * This story occurs concurrently with PROSE: Times Squared; a telephone conversation between Anne and Sally links the two.
 * Rhys Rubery previously appeared in PROSE: Ashes of the Inferno and Night of the Intelligence.
 * Anne refers to her employment with the Vault. (PROSE: Beast of Fang Rock)
 * Chorley has been quiet since the business with Dominex. (PROSE: Mutually Assured Domination)
 * Travers' time in the Vault's base in the London Underground is taking its toll on his mind. (PROSE: The Dogs of War)
 * Anne has spoken to Malachi Silverstein about her father, and he's agreed to visit at some point. (PROSE: Fear of the Web)
 * Charlie and Travers discuss maybe solving the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster, and Travers quips 'as long as it's not some alien robot'. (PROSE: Terror of the Zygons)