For me, the Eszterhazy stories are Davidson's best. They combine his unique brand of fantasy with the format, at least, of mysteries, though only a few (notably The Crown Jewels of Jerusalem, about how the theft of the jewels is solved by phrenology) really involve something like the solution of a conventional crime. The stories involve the quasi-detective Engelbert Eszterhazy, who investigates very odd happenings in the Triune Monarchy of of Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania, a sort of fantastic doublet of Austria-Hungary.My other favorites are "The Church of Saint Satan and Pandaemons" in which a church of very polite devil worshipers applies for official recognition and is persuaded to immigrate to America instad and "The Shadow of the King Has No Limits" in which the aged King-Emperor or his double really does appear at all sorts of places in his capital, and gives a sense of what was lost when the old empires were replaced by new dictators. ( )

Maybe this will change if I go back to this book later, but thus far it has been confusing and uninteresting. The cast is huge and consists mostly of goofy nobles and politicians from fractious yet interchangable fictional European nations. I haven't laughed once yet, but I have lost interest.

I'm especially disappointed because, as far as I can tell, nobody else on Goodreads has ever disliked this book. ( )

Stylish and erudite Ruritanian fantasies ( )