The duel is followed by the battle for Toulouse which was fought days after Napoleon had abdicated. All of this is prologue to a plot by the hated and long time enemy of Sharpe, Pierre Ducos, to steal a large quantity of gold and have the theft blamed on Sharpe.

There are a number of sub-plots involving Sharpe's wife Jane, who has gone ahead to England to buy a house in Dorset, Captain Frederickson, who falls in love with a French woman, and General Calvet, who, remaining loyal to Napoleon, is charged with getting the gold back.

There are many twists and turns making this book one of the more interesting of the entire series. All ends well, as you might imagine, given there are two more books in the series.

I am so hooked on the Richard Sharpe stories that having only two left to read somehow depresses me. Very much how I felt when I finished the Aubrey/Maturin Series by Patrick O'Brian.