Round the Fire Stories (39 page)

When the World Screamed & Other Stories

The Professor Challenger Adventures: Volume II

“Again and again the sly and highly intellectual humor of the author is in evidence, even in his quite seriously conceived tales.”

—
The New York Times
, November 21, 1908

Originally published in 1908 and out of print for more than half a century, this collection of stories, complete with a Preface by the author, presents Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at his finest. These are seventeen tales of suspense and adventure, of the mysterious and the fantastic, meant to be read “round the fire” upon a winter's night. Murder, madness, ghosts, unsolved crimes, diabolical traps, and inexplicable disappearances abound in these exciting accounts narrated by doctors, lawyers, gentlemen, teachers, burglars, dilettantes and convicted criminals. The titles are inviting – “The Pot of Caviare,” “The Clubfooted Grocer,” “The Brazilian Cat,” “The Sealed Room,” and “The Fiend of the Cooperage” – and the stories are riveting. This is a rediscovered classic by a master storyteller.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 – 1930) is the creator of Sherlock Holmes, the world's most famous detective. Born in Scotland, Conan Doyle was a practicing physician when he began writing tales of mystery and adventure. In addition to sixty Holmes stories, he wrote the Professor Challenger adventures and many short stories.

Round the Fire Stories
is the third volume of rediscovered classics by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to be published in paperback by Chronicle Books. Also available are
The Lost World & The Poison Belt: Professor Challenger Adventures Volume I
and
When the World Screamed & Other Stories: Professor Challenger Adventures Volume II.