Bust the Kingdom's biggest crime boss? There’s got to be an easier way for a Fool to win love!

A year after the events of Fool's Proof, Malfred Murd is no longer a Fool, royal or otherwise. He’s a newly minted nobleman—who can’t help plunging back into his own special brew of trouble. This time he’s taken on a task that’s outrageous even for him: becoming an undercover officer, out to bust the biggest crime boss in a vast and decadent city. Will it win him the attention of a certain maddeningly inaccessible Lady... or get him packed at the bottom of a barrel?

And what’s happening half a world away, where four thrilling storylines grow, complicate and come back together in a playful, powerful conclusion that leaves readers begging for more?

Follow Fred, Corvinalias, the other characters we met in Fool's Proof— and a dazzling collection of new ones— on a journey through a world blending equal parts comedy, crime novel and adventure: heroic, horrific and hilarious.