It’s the day after New Year and Sir Robert Carey has just foiled a double plot against King James of Scotland. Has the assassin taken ship for the Continent or run to earth in Keswick where he comes from? His family, originally from Augsburg, manages a mining operation that pays a royalty to Queen Elizabeth in gold. It’s ruled by the widow Radagunda Hochstetter.

First Carey must escort Janet Dodd home to Gilsland – her husband, Sergeant Dodd seems to have vanished, leaving only the corpse of the man who probably tried to kill him, with Dodd’s dagger in his calf.

With Red Sandy Dodd to guard his back instead of the Sergeant, Sir Robert must puzzle out whether the assassin is there at all. The Hochstetter family is politely obstructive – and something else is going on. What in the name of everything unholy is that well-known reiver Wattie Graham of Netherby doing so far over the border in peaceful Keswick?

Carey finds himself chasing his quarry deep into the mines. Will he avoid a clever trap? And what will he do about the sudden cry for help that comes from the eastern end of the Border?