It’s only eighteen days since they left Oxford and Sir Robert Carey and Sergeant Dodd are back in Carlisle where the raiding season is full swing. The trouble is, Carey has a bad toothache and Dodd is trying to find a toothdrawer to pull the tooth.

Meanwhile on the other side of the Border, Lady Elizabeth Widdrington finds herself having to cope with a friend of hers. Poppy Burn has just ridden to her tower from Scotland, although she is eight months pregnant. She is in a terrible state because not only has her husband, Minister Burn, been murdered, but it turns out that she herself has been raped.

The fey Lady Hume knows more than she’s telling, Lord Spynie, King James of Scotland’s amoral favourite is up to something. And the boys in the murdered Minister’s choir are determined not to give up on their singing and learning.

What will Carey do when the murderers come to Carlisle?