John Pearce has to fight on many fronts. Sea battles, emotional turmoil and downright chicanery mix in a stew of blood and scheming until Pearce discovers two facts that should change his life. But is what is being proposed fit for a man now accustomed to war, a man for whom gallantry is the stuff of life?

The twelfth book in the acclaimed "John Pearce" series. John Pearce and the wounded Henry Digby leave HMS Flirt and head to Naples, where Pearce must find a way to best both of his sworn enemies.