An explosion and fire at the Ashton Gunpowder Mill in Kent has killed over a hundred men. It's called an appalling tragedy-- until suspicion and rumor raise the specter of murder. While visiting the Ashton family, Bess Crawford finds herself caught up in a venomous show of hostility that doesn't stop with Philip Ashton's arrest. Someone is out for blood. The only known witness to the tragedy is now at the Front in France. Bess is asked to find him, but he proves less than helpful. To end the vicious persecution of the Ashtons, Bess must risk her life to protect her reluctant witness from a clever killer intent on preventing either of them from reaching England.
