A Death in the Venetian Quarter

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."