This novel is the twelfth in the Richard Jury series. It is unique in being set in America; in the other Jury novels Grimes frequently shows her major characters as being outsiders in some way as they travel to various parts of England, and in this novel as in some of the earlier ones, a good deal of humor results from the characters' unfamiliarity with the place and from the encounters they have with colorful locals.

This novel also has close ties to many other novels in the series and particularly to its immediate predecessor, The Old Contemptibles. Grimes has a character note the passage of time, about a year, between the action of the two novels, and the return of Lady Cray brings with it news of the characters of the previous novel. Jury is still grieving over the death of Jane and discovers that...