Welcome to James Keane - card sharp and ladies' man - and one of the finest soldiers of Wellington's army. Keane - hot-tempered, a maverick, never quite accepted by his fellow officers - is in trouble for killing his man in a duel: an activity forbidden by Wellington. To avoid court martial, he takes on an unwelcome assignment: to form an ill-assorted bunch of reprobates into an elite unit capable of operating behind the lines. A nineteenth-century Dirty Dozen. Keane's Company is the first novel featuring James Keane and his band, whose adventures will continue in a series following the Peninsular War.