Halvar Danske, known as the Hireling, has come to Manatas to determine whether there's fraud afoot in the Feria. His master, the Al-Andalusian Calif Don Felipe, has had a letter from an old friend named Leon di Vicenza claiming part of the calif's share of the Feria's revenues is being funneled into unauthorized pockets. It's more than an omen when Halvar stumbles on a brutally murdered man his first morning in Manatas, and the day goes downhill from there. Is the corpse really Leon di Vincenza, or is someone staging a gigantic hoax? And what does Halvar's childhood love Dani Glick have to do...

The Saga of Halvar the Hireling Book 3 As the fall Feria comes to a close, Halvar is ready to snatch Leon di Vicenza from the fratery and head back to Al-Andalus. No such luck. An Afrikan merchant dies of poisoning, and there are enough suspects to populate half of Manatas. Then a Bretain student is also murdered, and the Calif's Hireling is once again up to his boot tops in mystery.

Halvar the Hireling, Captain of the Town Guard on the island of Manatas, must deal with the deaths of a messenger boy and a respected professor of mathematics, both of which may be linked to a shipment of arms smuggled into the city. To make matters worse, a cougar has been spotted in the hills north of the town. Sectarian disputes and personal rivalries make for a not-so-happy holiday for the ex-mercenary, who finds the number of his country's enemies growing exponentially.