Turtledove to me is the very definition of a writer who is good enough. He is neither imaginative enough to conjure up worlds that feel wonderful and new, or adept enough with the pen that you can forgive tired concepts. However, his ideas are just interesting enough. His characters just human enough. His prose just good enough.
It's a minor work, but there's a short story he did that I'm very fond of. It's not precisely alternate history- it's a time travel number.
Shakespeare gets told by Burbage- 'Mate, you need to get along to the Rose. Some bastards are doing a pirated version of Hamlet.'
Right, says Will, let's see what's going on- I'll go to the play, find out what's what, then get the Lord Chamberlain on them like a ton of ceramic housing materials.
Off he goes, and to his bemusement this strange company (Some of them are women!) with stranger accents aren't doing Hamlet. They're just doing bits of it, interspersed with bizarre dialogue about flipping coins and how good it would be to be dead.
And the only characters of his who seem to feature are those two eminently disposable spear carriers- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern!
And gradually, as this is revealed, the reader grins. It's a wonderful premise, and told simply.
Now, it's not as good as the idea. The dialogue has that standard Turtledove problem of everyone speaking in the same two or three narrative voices. There's a fair bit of clumsy exposition- Shakespeare almost crosses himself in surprise, because he and his family are hidden Catholics, which is not a good thing in Jacobean England because of the Reformation and yes, you get the point.
The thing is, it works. It's an excellent idea that in practice is merely good- but what an idea. Shakespare watching Tom Stoppard? The only thing that could have made it better is a epilogue with Oscar Wilde, James Joyce and Vlad Lenin watching Travesties.
The fact of the matter is, is that Turtledove enchants. He's an entirely different writer, but he's a little similar to someone like George Lucas or Robert Jordan- it's easy to sneer at the workmanlike story telling and the way both writers tend to fall when they try to be especially clever.
But at their best, they have the knack of spinning simple yarns that younger readers in particular will just fall headfirst into. And hell- were it not for Guns of the South or How Few Remain or Imperial Space Lizards Get Horny on Ginger, how many of us would be on this site at all?