Rodney Stone

Rodney Stone, the son of a naval officer in the days of Nelson, tells of his boyhood friendship with Jim Harrison, a blacksmith's nephew, and of his time in London as the guest of his uncle, Sir Charles Tregellis, the most fashionable dandy of the Regency and a friend of the Prince of Wales. At the heart of the novel is the world of prize-fighting, as Jim is put forward as a champion in a great boxing match, and an old murder mystery is solved.

Arthur Conan Doyle published the novel in 1896, a lively picture of Regency England with appearances by Nelson and Beau Brummell. Read The White Company and The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was born in Edinburgh, trained as a doctor and wrote stories while waiting for patients at his practice in Southsea. Sherlock Holmes, modelled partly on his old teacher Joseph Bell, who could diagnose a patient's life at a glance, first appeared in 1887 and soon made Doyle one of the best-paid writers in the world.

He grew tired of his detective, killed him off in 1893 and was forced by his readers to bring him back. Doyle also wrote historical novels, the adventure The Lost World and campaigns for wrongly convicted men. Start with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Hound of the Baskervilles.