Fablewood is a pretty dangerous place, but no area is more dangerous than the City of Rimes, deep in the heart of the Children's Realm. After transferring in from the realm of Mystery, a failed detective from an unfinished prose novel, Frankie Mack, is about to uncover a conspiracy that could unmake storytelling itself. After Humpty Dumpty is pushed to crack and Jack (of Jack and Jill) goes AWOL, Frankie and his partner, Simple Simon, are put on the case.
Frankie finds himself back in the midst of chaos on the streets of Rimes. While the case has been cracked wide open, he has less than a day to do anything about it. The Queens and Witches are waging a war staged by the mysterious knife-wielding man and the livelihood of stories from all walks of the world are on the line. Frankie may have messed up things in his own story, but this time he will not go down without a fight.