Bust the Kingdom's scariest 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 going on halfway across the world, in other thrilling story threads that will separate, complicate and come crashing back together in a playful, powerful conclusion?  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.