A talking cat, a gang of talking rats, and a stupid-looking kid have a nice racket going - the rats infest a town, the kid plays his pipe, the rats leave, and everyone gets paid. It's the Pied Piper con. Then they arrive in the town of Bad Blintz, where something has already eaten all the real rats, and the game turns dangerous. A Discworld novel for younger readers, darker than it first appears, about stories, sentience, and the moment when being clever stops being enough.