"Geniuses are more commonly read about than seen."
Hilarious, tragic, and thrilling in turn, this fun little study of human character throws fresh light upon the creator of our beloved consulting detective.
A naïve fellow attempts to live according to his favourite novelist with side-splitting results; a young man's life is haunted by the secrets of his father; an austere, seemingly unemotional scientist decides to marry; a man loses his ear in the most tragicomic fashion; a country doctor is forced to brace himself against competition of an unusual kind, and another doctor performs a miracle in order to give himself a start in business.
All of this and much more in a fine story collection that explores the vices, virtues, and limitations of human beings in the face of both extremity and the grind of everyday life. How far would we go to survive when in a dark place, and how are we changed upon reemerging?
“Yet birth, and lust, and illness, and death are changeless things, and when one of these harsh facts springs out upon a man at some sudden turn of the path of life, it dashes off for the moment his mask of civilization and gives a glimpse of the stranger and stronger face below. ” ( )

This selection of short stories have been taken from the following volumes - The Green Flag,Round the Fire Stories,Round the Red lamp,The Last Galley,The Captain of the Polestar and Danger. (plus a few uncollected stories) They vary from the amusing 'Debut of Bimbashi Joyce to the thrilling The Great Brown-Pericord Motor.
While they are not Doyle's finest tales by any means,they do stand up well against many short stories which you find published today. ( )