It's so funny to me how in this novella series Bujold apparently decided "I am only writing the parts of the story which interest me" even if that leads to a book both beginning and ending almost mid-scene. I'm not complaining! I really loved this installment in the Penric and Desdemona saga. But Penric has now completed two full university degrees, yet Bujold completely skipped over all of his schooling, to instead tell the bite-sized mysteries and shenanigans he gets up to between jobs and schools. In this one Penric attempts his first undercover spy mission. It goes terribly. Within less than a day of landing in a new country he has been discovered and thrown in prison. It becomes clear that his jailers plan to execute him without a trial. This feels like the first time Penric has really seriously faced potential death since the first book. I enjoyed how this one unwound; very curious how much of a time jump I'll get between this book and the next one.