in on the joke (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798256062231)

Princess Ethel Messerschmidt presides beside her ruthless father every morning as he sentences the kingdom's Detestables to death. She has never intervened. It's all quite boring, after all. That is, until the day Cecil DeWitt is presented and makes a mockery of the whole institution.

Intrigued by his defiance, Ethel issues a stay of execution on one condition: Cecil will become her personal court jester. Should the time come that he no longer amuses her, he is to be sent back to the block.

But Cecil is more than a handsome fool; he is hiding a dangerous secret. Beneath his costume and the bells lies a plot to free Nettlebaum from the Messerschmidts and their cruelty. Forced into a high-stakes game of wit and treason, Ethel must decide if she's simply playing along with a beautiful traitor for fun, or if she's finally ready to be in on the joke.