Though not for everyone, I love Towles’s languid verbose style, and this collection of stories highlights that style beautifully. I was also pleasantly surprised by the novella of Eve, from “Rules of Civility.” I didn’t like the character at all in the first book, and it didn’t really get a good sense of her in that novel. But her story here is terrific and gives the character some heft. Her story alone makes this collection a winner.