Publisher's Synopsis
The grim reality of war after "The Charge of the Light Brigade" and the cameraderie of professional soldiers come to life in award-winning author Garry Douglas Kilworth's new historical series starring army officer, and occasional espionage agent, "Fancy Jack" Crossman. After the Battle of Inkerman on November 5, 1854, the British Army in the Crimea faces the most terrible ally of the Czar's armythe Russian winter. With hopelessly inadequate provisions and clothing, Sergeant Jack Crossman and his band of grumblers and stalwarts of the 88th Connaught Rangers are billeted at Kadikoi village near Balaclava harbor, with instructions to blow up the magazine in the Russian Star Fort. Yet Crossman's true task is to spy on a British general accused of corruptionand to bring about his downfall by any means necessary. As Patrick O'Brian did for the British Navy, Kilworth vividly portrays the friendship and the courage of old soldiers and the brief, thrilling episodes of combat that will eventually determine the outcome of Great Britain's most grueling war.
