The book features the coming of movable type to Ankh-Morpork, and the founding of the Discworld's first newspaper by William de Worde, as he invents investigative journalism with the help of his reporter Sacharissa Cripslock. The two investigate the charges of murder against Havelock Vetinari and help vindicate him.  The Ankh-Morpork City Watch characters also appear in this novel, but have limited roles and are seen mainly from de Worde's perspective - not a flattering one. C.M.O.T. Dibbler also puts in an appearance.  In the novel the criminal group The New Firm (Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip) are employed by a group of so called "concerned citizens" to frame Lord Vetinari, in a conspiracy to get a new Patrician of Ankh-Morpork.  To accomplish this the New Firm found a shopkeeper who happened to be the spitting image of Vetinari and planned to use him as a double to make it seem as if Vetinari was trying to abscond from the city with a large amount of gold.  While the ploy worked, it was touch-and-go for a minute or two--the New Firm's employers had neglected to tell Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip that Vetinari "moved like a snake". They improvised, stabbing Vetinari's clerk, Drumknott, and pushing their Vetinari look-a-like into the hallway to "confess".  The only wrinkle was the escape of Wuffles, Vetinari's terrier, who tried but failed to get rid of the intruders by biting them at the ankle. The New Firm didn't think much of this, but as Mr. Slant of the Lawyer's Guild was quick to point out, Ankh-Morpork had myriad ways to talk to anything, so the New Firm was forced to search for Wuffles.  When the Ankh-Morpork Times offered a AM$25 reward for Wuffles, hundreds of people showed up to attempt to get the reward, and Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip quickly took advantage of the situation, and arrived disguised as Omnian clergy members.  They were about to kill William de Worde when the Times iconographer took a picture using "Dark Light" exposure, which caused Mr. Pin to become aware of the large number of ghosts that were following him, waiting for him to die.  He ran from the scene, and threatened Mr. Slant in order to increase their fee, after which went to his employer's house, where he found the Times reporter Sacharissa Cripslock.  Taking her with them, the New Firm went down to the Times office to wait for William to show up. A scuffle broke out, which led to a fire, from which Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip took refuge in the basement. When this began to fill with hot lead as the printing press in the floor above melted, Mr. Pin took advantage of his partner's trust and, under the guise of a plan, he shoots him and stands on his body in order to survive.  When Mr. Pin finally got out of the basement, out of habit more than anything else, he tried to strangle William, who accidentally ran him through with a paper spike.  Following this Mr. Pin ends up in the Desert of the Dead, where met with Death, who obliged Mr. Pin's wish to be reincarnated by sending him back to life as a potato.

A somewhat piecemeal book made up of lots of differnet bit of books, yet it's in keeping with the general theme of the book. William is an interesting character, a sort of cross between Superman's Perry White and Josepth Goebbels! The Wacth, the UU Faculty and the Patrician all make cameos and there's a general nod towards Lancre and Uberwold throughout the book too. The conspiracy is all very X files and the two hitmen are obviously TP's brain on Pulp Fiction!  The book does go on a little too long and to be honest the showdown (the war of de Wordes) could really have been excised as it adds nothing that we wouldn't gather from the text that follows. It's nice that TP has chosen to do something fresh and new for the 25th Book rather than just bring back an old character or enemy, it adds freshness and doesn't wallow in continuity and this I think is a good move.