The year is 1867.

A box treasured by a distinguished American exile in England is stolen; three battle-hardened ex-Southern soldiers from the recently ended American Civil War arrive on an unusual mission; two go on a hectic pursuit of the box in Liverpool and London; the third takes a path that could lead to the gallows...

A newspaper announcement echoing a poem by the poet-priest of the Southern Confederacy intrigues Roberta Van Trask, daughter of an American diplomat in London. It causes detective Septimus Dacers and herself to risk their lives as they attempt to foil a grotesque scheme which could cause war between Britain and the United States...

An exciting historical mystery!