New Arabian Nights

Much as the caliph Harun al-Rashid wanders Baghdad in disguise in the Arabian Nights, Prince Florizel of Bohemia roams modern London and Paris incognito with his loyal friend Colonel Geraldine in search of adventure. In 'The Suicide Club' they join a secret society whose members draw cards each night to decide which of them will die and who will kill him; in 'The Rajah's Diamond', a great stolen jewel passes from hand to hand, bringing ruin to each owner.

Robert Louis Stevenson published the collection in 1882, and it also includes the eerie Scottish tale 'The Pavilion on the Links'. Its witty, fantastic stories influenced later detective and spy fiction. Compare the Arabian Nights Entertainments, and read Treasure Island.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) came from a family of Edinburgh lighthouse engineers and was expected to follow them, but chose writing, despite lungs so weak he was often bedridden. He travelled constantly in search of health, married the American Fanny Osbourne and wrote Treasure Island for her son.

Kidnapped, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and A Child's Garden of Verses followed, and in 1890 he settled in Samoa, where the islanders called him Tusitala, the teller of tales. He died there at forty-four and is buried on a hilltop above his home.