About the Author

Robert G. Folsom, the author of The Money Trail: How Elmer Irey and His T-Men Brought Down America’s Criminal Elite (2010), is a former reporter and editor with more than thirty years’ experience on daily newspapers and a freelance writer on intelligence, counterintelligence, and law enforcement. He served as the director of information services at Florida International University before returning to journalism. He lives in Gainesville, Georgia.

Reviews

"The Life and Mysterious Death of Ian MacKintosh can be read on several levels: as a book on popular culture as exhibited in a 1970s television show, as a window into understanding the ethical dilemmas faced by the espionage profession, and as a biography of a man who was enigmatic in both the way he lived and died. Robert Folsom writes in an easy style that allows the reader to follow along from the alleyways behind the Iron Curtain to the London studios of the BBC to the wilds of Alaska. This is the story of an insider who had both access to British intelligence work and internal conflict accepting how it is conducted."--Jan Goldman, editor of the International Journal of Intelligence Ethics and founder of the International Ethics Intelligence Association

"Essential reading for any student of the cloak-and-dagger world. This book unravels the fascinating tale of one of the most important fictional representations of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service."--Richard J. Aldrich, author of GCHQ: The Uncensored Story of Britain's Most Secret Intelligence Agency

"Robert Folsom's excellent book is a fascinating investigation into the mysterious death of the creator of one of the most authentic spy series ever seen on TV. Even now, former intelligence officer Ian MacKintosh's original outline for The Sandbaggers reveals more authentic detail on the operations of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service than most of the so-called exposés of MI6."--Michael Smith, author of Six: The Real James Bonds

"Through The Sandbaggers, Ian MacKintosh gave the world one of its most thoughtful, challenging, satisfying, and convincing espionage dramas, a television series at least the equal of literary tales by such figures as John le Carré, Len Deighton, and Ian Fleming. In this well-researched and engaging book, Folsom provides an account of MacKintosh and his work that is just as thoughtful, challenging, and satisfying."--Philip H. J. Davies, author of MI6 and the Machinery of Spying and Intelligence and Government in Britain and the United States