Written by Arthur Conan Doyle and reissued by the estimable Hesperus Press, The Tragedy of the Korosko (Hesperus 121pp £6.99) is an engrossing novella that will strike a chord with every contemporary reader. Its parallels with the modern day are remarkable. In 1895, when Britain was the world’s dominant power and gunboat diplomacy was at its zenith, a group of Western tourists are kidnapped by Arabs in Egypt and face imminent death. The characters may verge on the stereotypical – there’s a do-gooder, an igénue, a man of action, a man of God, a one-eyed mullah, and so on – but the ways in which they change and adjust to their circumstances are well observed.

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