Book:Making Money

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Book:Making Money
Cover art by Paul Kidby
Co-author(s) {{{coauthors}}}
Illustrator(s) {{{illustrator}}}
Publisher Doubleday
Publication date 20th September 2007
ISBN 0385611013
Pages 352
RRP {{{rrp}}}
Main characters Moist von Lipwig, Adora Belle Dearheart
Series Ankh-Morpork Books
Annotations View
Notes
All data relates to the first UK edition.

Blurb

It's an offer you can't refuse. Who would not to wish to be the man in charge of Ankh-Morpork's Royal Mint and the bank next door? It's a job for life. But, as former con-man Moist von Lipwig is learning, the life is not necessarily for long. The Chief Cashier is almost certainly a vampire. There's something nameless in the cellar (and the cellar itself is pretty nameless), it turns out that the Royal Mint runs at a loss. A 300 year old wizard is after his girlfriend, he's about to be exposed as a fraud, but the Assassins' Guild might get him first. In fact lot of people want him dead. Oh... and every day he has to take the Chairman for walkies. Everywhere he looks he's making enemies. What he should be doing is... Making Money!

Plot

Moist van Lipwig is content but slightly bored with his successful leadership of the Ankh-Morpork Post Office. Lord Vetinari offers him the job of running the Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork and the Royal Mint. Moist visits both places, where he meets Malvolio Bent, the Chief Cashier of and the bank's chairman Topsy Lavish, who takes a liking to Moist, however he initially refuses the job offer. A short while afterwards, Lavish dies and the majority of shares in the bank are inherited by her dog Mr Fusspot, making him the chairman. She has also specified in her will that Moist should ensure Mr Fusspot carries out his duties correctly and that the Assassin's Guild would enforce this contract, effectively forcing Moist to run the bank.

Moist is met with several challenges in office. The Royal Mint is operating at a loss because the metal required to produce the coins costs more than their actual value. Because of the weak currency, many people have taken to using Post Office stamps as a currency instead. He tries to reform the currency by introducing Paper Money. This brings him into conflict with Mavolio Bent, the Chief Cashier, and the wealthy Lavish family who try to dispose of him without success. Cosmo Lavish goes a step further and tries to replace Vetinari by taking on his identity, but fails.

Meanwhile, Adora Belle Dearheart has been working to uncover several golems from the ruins of the ancient city of Um. She succeeds in ordering them to travel the city, but due to a translation error, it is discovered that instead of sending "four golden golems", she is sending four thousand golems. This would trigger a potential war with the neighbouring city states who would be threatened by the 4,000 golems. Moist discovers the secret to controlling the golems and orders them to bury themselves on the outskirts of the city, except for a few that will be used for manual labour. He realises that the golems will prove a much better foundation for the currency than gold and thus introduces the 'golem standard'. A clacks message is then sent out to other cities to explain how to control the golems, to ensure that they cannot be used for warfare.

At the end of the book, Vetinari notes that the Chief Tax Collector is approaching retirement age and may soon need replacing.

Characters

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