This is Kage Baker's first fantasy novel (she is better known for her Company series). It's a good effort, with a well-drawn world and interesting characters.

Smith, a retired assassin, takes a job as a caravan leader, where he befriends Mrs. Smith (the cook) and old porter Smith, new porter Smith and young Smith (who are all assigned to work on the caravan). Baker handles this joke really well -- it's easy to keep all of the characters straight in spite of the fact that they've all chosen the same pseudonym. The story is episodic -- two fo the three set pieces were originally published as novellas. In the first, Smith leads the caravan through a deadly forest, where they face a demon called The Master of the Mountain and befriend his half-demon son. In the second, Smith solves a mysterious murder that takes places in a locked hotel room. In the third, Smith averts a race war and learns more about his own true self.

The story is witty and the dialog is great fun. I'm not typically a fan of fantasy -- as a rule, the genre irritates me -- so some elements of this book irritated me, but none more than I expected. It was a fun read.