Going Postal

Moist von Lipwig is a con artist of the highest degree: polite, charming, and skillful in his work. Nevertheless, as the story begins he is confined to a cell in Ankh Morpork and scheduled to die within half an hour after having stolen AM$150,000. He is saved when Lord Vetinari offers him a choice: he can walk out of the door (and fall to his death), or he can become Postmaster of the city’s run down Post Office.

Lipwig makes an outrageous wager with Gilt that he can deliver a message to Genua faster than the clacks of the Grand Trunk can (which is a preposterous claim; messages on the Grand Trunk are known to travel at great speeds).