October 1941. While on a delivery, young messenger Freddie Hackett witnesses an argument that ends in murder, and when he later arrives at the delivery address, he's shocked to come face to face with the killer. While Maisie Dobbs believes the boy and wants to help, she risks becoming entangled in a power struggle between Britain's intelligence efforts in France and the work of Free French agents operating across Europe, and in this 16th outing (after The American Agent), she must also contend with the lingering question of Freddie Hackett's state of mind.