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While Max, the usual viewpoint character of the St Mary's stories, is laid up in the infirmary with broken bones, having fallen off the roof in the previous St Mary's book, she has a brilliant idea which she leaves to Markham to carry out.
Peterson is about to lead a team of historians and security to the 1660s to see the first ever working steam pump, designed by Edward Somerset, Lord Herbert, long before Newcomen and Watt. Contemporary reports of the day indicate that the demonstration went well and there was no trouble, so it should be an easy assignment, however Sykes and North (historians) hate each other and take every opportunity to snipe. In addition Markham has been given an extra assignment by Max – get Peterson and Miss Lingoss together and give them a chance to make some kind of connection. Peterson is still in a deep depression after two bereavements. Markham has a plan which involves pushing Lingoss into a moat so that Peterson can rescue her. What could possibly go wrong?
The story is told entirely from Markham's point of view, which is fascinating. Markham is one of my favourite St Mary's characters, and Zara Ramm narrates his story in his Bristol accent which is perfect. There are some asides which might not mean much in this particular story, but in the context of revelations about Markham in the most recent St Mary's book 'Plan for the Worst' they make perfect sense. I didn't even notice them when I read this story the first time around but now I'm chuckling at them, understanding what they really mean. Priceless! All will be revealed… eventually.
A kind of prequel to all of the St Mary's books tells about the civil uprisings against the corrupt government, and how St Mary's stalwarts, Mrs Mack (catering), Mrs Shaw (PA), and Mrs Enderby (costume), ended up manning the Battersea Barricades on St George's Day on the decisive day of the civil war. The civil unrest has been referred to before in other stories, but this is the first timew we've seen any detail. The three of them have individual journeys and come together on that final day, to face down a helicopter gunship with nothing but their courage and each other. They tell their story to Max on the many-years-later anniversary. Zara Ramm narrates beautifully, as usual.
The traditional St Mary's Christmas jump takes Major Ian Guthrie, together with Peterson and Markham to the Battle of Bannockburn for Guthrie's final retirement jump. When they fail to return on time, Max and Evans (security) go after them. They discover snipers (always come in pairs) and bounty hunters: Lady Amelia Smallhope, and her butler, Pennyroyal. Elspeth Grey, former historian, and Guthrie's partner, gets her mojo back. There's another tantalising glimpse of Markham's backstory. Having now read the book which reveals Markham's 'dirty little secret' as mentioned by Major Guthrie to Max at the beginning of this story, I can say that Jodi Taylor's hints offered here and in The Steam Pump Jump do eventually come to fruition. One fascinating observation (by Guthrie) is that though Markham has a Bristol accent now, he went through the army as a Geordie. 
There are two audio versions of this. One is in the short story collection 'The Long and the Short of It' read by Zara Ramm. The second is a single-release version read by Piers Wehner. This is one of the Christmas Short Stories, and takes Max, Peterson and Markham away from the seasonal festivities at St Mary's (where Markham was planning to be the back end of a reindeer) to check on whether Alfred the Great really did burn the cakes. (Alfred didn't, Markham did!) For a change the whole thing is written from Markham's point of view, which is probably why Audible has released a version narrated by a man (Piers Wehner). I've listened to almost all of the Jodi Taylor's St Mary's books, and all have been read by Zara Ramm. She voices Markham beautifully, complete with his Bristol accent, and therefore she does an excellent job or narrating this whole story. Piers Wehner doesn't do a bad job of narrating the alternate version. He definitely has an accent but it's not quite (obvious) Bristol, more like a generic South East. He is, however a lovely dynamic reader. Which do I like best? I like both and either is well worth listening to.