David Eyam, former head of the Joint Intelligence Committee, has apparently been killed by a bomb in Colombia. The Bell Ringers unfolds against a backdrop of the emerging security state intended to prevent terrorism against the rights of the citizen to have a private life. Slowly, this tale gains steam in present day Britain when Kate Lockhart returns to London for Eyam's funeral only to find out she is his sole heir! She meets people (the Bell Ringers- ordinary folk who are the true patriots going about their business) at the funeral who tell her alarming things. She senses that she is being followed. People are assaulted because they might know something and from that point on, it is a full tilt boogie into the great conspiracy! The characters are skillfully drawn and the issues are very real.