Death Must Come Naturally: The Story of Jakub Havel

In 1984, Reverend James St Johns, the Vicar of Ashfield, is recognised by KGB agent Nikolai Volkov as Jakub Havel, a fugitive from the StB in Prague. The information is passed on to the Czechoslovak secret service, who devise a plot to bring the case against Havel to a conclusion.

In 1938, Jakub Havel was thirteen years old when his parents sent him from Brno, Czechoslovakia, to escape the war with Nazi Germany. Returning in 1946, he discovers that his parents are missing and presumed dead. He goes to work with the Church in Prague but disagrees with the Communist takeover of his country. Leading a resistance group to support people on the streets, he conducts refugee evacuations to the West, but in 1956, after the death of an StB officer, he flees to England to join an old friend at St Joseph's in Ashfield.

In 1985, Lieutenant Commander Stephen Lodge completes his year as an instructor at HMS Vernon in Portsmouth and marries his fiancée, Jessica Thomson. Assigned as the First Lieutenant on HMS Newcastle in the Mediterranean, he conducts sea rescues of refugees from North Africa who are crossing the Mediterranean Sea in search of a better life in Europe. The Middle Eastern countries of Israel, Lebanon, and Syria are engaged in ongoing border conflicts, with the support of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Egypt. Additionally, the cruise ship Achille Lauro is hijacked by the Palestinian Liberation Front.

But there is worse news from home and Stephen is summoned back to the UK to investigate the mystery surrounding Ashfield's Vicar. Successful in his investigation, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic then has to be searched to ensure the correct conclusion.