John "Kit" McKittredge is a young federal lieutenant from Maine who is wounded terribly in one of the first battles of the Civil War. Still unfit for active duty after nine months in the hospital, he is recruited by an unorthodox colonel named Valentine Burdette to work in the provost marshal general's office in Washington. The beleaguered capital is filled with saloons, brothels, spies, thieves, and murderers. It is also rife with official corruption and political intrigue. While investigating what appears to be a routine case of military procurement fraud, Kit becomes embroiled in the murder case of a beautiful young woman who had the misfortune of attending the birthday party of Union general Joseph Hooker, the notorious and charming libertine. The investigation leads Kit through a series of harrowing adventures-both on the battlefield and in the capital's darkest dens of depravity-until he and Val Burdette must confront a vast criminal conspiracy that threatens both their own lives and the fate of the Republic. This riveting thriller by the award-winning author of the critically acclaimed Stonewall's Gold hauntingly brings to life one of the most dramatic periods of the Civil War.