The tenth of master storyteller Anne Perry's festive Christmas novellas. 1857. A soldier under arrest for dereliction of duty has killed a guard and escaped to join the rebels, taking crucial information that led to the massacre of nine men on patrol. Someone must have helped him, and medical orderly John Tallis is the only man unaccounted for at the time. He is now on trial for his life, and Narraway is commanded to defend him. But Narraway cannot see any motive for his actions. Will an innocent man hang before Christmas?