Thraxas is who you go to if you need a sorcerer or investigator but can't afford the good ones. He describes himself as forty-three, overweight, without ambition and prone to prolonged bouts of drinking. He used to work for Palace Security until drinking himself out of employment and now tries to make ends meet by taking on jobs that others won't touch. He's also in desperate need of some money to avoid being thrown out on the street and an inconvenient gambling debt that's looming in the near future. So it's somewhat of a relief when Princess Du-Akai requests his services in retrieving a box containing personal letters from an ambassador that she'd been having an affair with. They could prove an embarrassment if they fall into the wrong hands and now the relationship is over that could become a possibility. A fairly simple task that is made more complicated when the current owner is found dead and Thraxas is accused of his murder and the contents of the box differ from what was described. Why would the princess want a spell to put a dragon to sleep? Thraxas also gets involved into a case of some magical cloth that's disappeared and also a politician's son who's involved in drug-dealing for him to also look into.

While this isn't a laugh out loud type of humorous fantasy there are enough smiles to be had to fit the category. There are some fun characters to be found here, from the Sardonic and self-deprecating lead with his sometimes-assistant Makri (with her unique Orc, Elf and Human parentage) who wants to study at the university but can't because of its gender bias. I'm sure we'll get to revisit with some of the other side characters as the series progresses (currently there are 9 books). The story is more private detective than outright fantasy and is somewhat akin to [[Glen Cook]]'s Garrett P.I. books rather than say a Terry Pratchett or Robert Asprin novel. It's a fast moving tale that still manages to look at some serious subject matter along the way that will also probably be revisited in future episodes. I'd be willing to seek out the next in the series even if it wasn't already sat on my tbr shelves along with a couple more that were bought in a job lot. ( )

A lot like a detective novel set in Diskworld. A good afternoon's light read on a summer day in a hammock. ( )

A fine book ( )