Lieutenant-Colonel Sharpe is a man with a reputation. Born in the gutter, raised a foundling, he joined the army twenty-one years ago, and it's been his home ever since. He's a loose cannon, but his unconventional methods make him a valuable weapon. So when, the dust still settling after the Battle of Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington needs a favour, he turns to Sharpe. For Wellington knows that the end of one war is only the beginning of another....

"Set just after the Battle of Waterloo ... The war against Napoleon might be over, but the Duke of Wellington is afraid a new enemy is looming on the horizon--la Fraternite, a group of Bonaparte loyalists apparently poised to carry out a plot to assassinate the 'princes of Europe' and catapult Napoleon back to power throughout the continent. Sharpe's mission: to take a small group of skilled men, locate la Fraternite, and kill them all. But soon...