Pranks on monks change to swindling goldsmiths, highway rascals, capturing a small boat of fighters. His journey begins and the level of his challenge scales up as he drifts further from home. Events conspire to give him an out, so he joins a raid of Calais planned by King Edward. We join Nigel as a young troublemaker in his own shire playing pranks on the local monks, his spirit for adventure having found no outlet. The pacing is sweet, the language convincing for the age, and it opens out nicely. It felt like reading about an English D’Artagnan. I then discovered he’d written a series of historical romances and my brother gave me a copy of Sir Nigel, an adventure tale set in 1350s about an ambitious squire who sets off to battle the French and win honour. The other four Challenger stories are a bit shit. The first two chapters are a brilliant narrative example of alpha game, and then it becomes an adventure story. I tried his Professor Challenger series late last year and the first, The Lost World, was excellent. Given these conditions, I’m amazed the quality was so high. I was quite surprised to learn that Conan Doyle grew to resent his character, felt it wasn’t his best work, and dragged his heels on the final His Last Bow collection because he didn’t want to write it. They are possibly my favourite short story collection of all time. Chances are if you’re familiar with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle it’s because of his Sherlock Holmes stories.
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