ROUND THE FIRE STORIES by Sir...

ROUND THE FIRE STORIES by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Chronicle: $9.95). Originally published in 1908, the short stories in this collection are eerie, mysterious and often involve the supernatural. Many of them evoke the Victorian London of Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tales, and it’s easy to imagine the eminent detective calmly unraveling the macabre mysteries of “The Club-Footed Grocer” or “The Sealed Room.” The narrator of “The Beetle Hunter” is a young man just out of medical school, not unlike Dr. Watson in the early Sherlock adventures, and the excellent ghost story “The Brown Hand” is told by the heir of a noted Indian surgeon. In his introduction, Doyle wrote that the ideal atmosphere for these tales would be found “ ‘round the fire’ upon a winter’s night”; however, a beach or swimming pool makes an excellent substitute during the smoggy Southern California summer.