The Fools' Guild is an organization of jesters, minstrels and performers who act as secret agents, striving behind the scenes to manipulate events so as to maintain as much peace as possible. In 1203, the ships of the Fourth Crusade, instead of travelling to the Holy Land, show up outside the walls of Constantinople and besiege the city. Within the city, the jester Theophilos, working under the name of Feste, his wife and apprentice, are faced with looming catastrophe. With disaster looming, the death of one silk merchant in the Venetian Quarter of Constantinople seems insignificant. The merchant, however, was not what he appeared to be and, if Constantinople is to have any hope of surviving the troops outside its gates, Feste must quickly uncover what forces were at work when the merchant lost his life. Appearing for the first time in paperback, this title includes the short story, "The Jester and the Thieves."
- ISBN10 0312369328
- ISBN13 9780312369323
- Publish Date 1 May 2007 (first published 12 March 2002)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 13 December 2008
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Minotaur Books,US
- Format Paperback (US Tall Rack)
- Pages 320
- Language English