Tales and Fantasies Book

Two novella length stories and a short one from one of Scotland's best, Robert Louis Stevenson.

'The Misadventures of John Nicholson' is the farcical tale of an unprepossessing yet incredibly unlucky lad from Edinburgh. If looking for an explantion for why he always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time don't look too hard, for 'superstition steps in with the more ready explanation that he was detested of the gods.'

'The Body-Snatcher' is the kind of short story you expect from Stevenson, culled from the one of the grisliest episodes in 19th century Edinburgh, the medical practices of Richard Knox and his two infamous grave diggers, Burke and Hare.
Stevenson provides a supernatural twist.

'The Story of a Lie' owes more than a little of its plot to circumstance, but is a lively tale of young love sundered by well-meaning lies and unhelpful fathers. One father, a failed painter who is also a shameless sponge, is particularly fun.

If there is one common theme that binds these disparate, posthumously collected tales it's that lying, both to yourself and others, catches up with you eventually.

Not bad, but far from the writer's best stories.