The Croxley Master: A Great Tale Of The Prize Ring

by Arthur Conan Doyle

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: Classics, Short Stories

60 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1899

About the author

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.

Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.

Reviews

[JoAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not the sort of story I usually read but I have decided that I need to start reading all those other books I've picked up along the way to be read someday.
What a fun, fast-paced and interesting story about a medical assistant who has no hope of coming up with the money for his final year of medical school until, while defending himself against the belligerent spouse of a patient, he ends up knocking out the area's best hope to defeat the Croxley Master.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining listening

A entertaining will written thriller adventure novella of the prize ring with interesting will developed characters. A young man 🚹must find money 💰 for university to get his degree as a doctor. The only way is a prize fight. I would recommend this novella to anyone looking for a quick read. Enjoy the adventure of reading or listening 🔰 2021.
Alexa reads to me due to eye damage and issues from shingles.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Montgomery desperately needs £60 to finish his final year at medical school
in order to gain his degree and realise his ambition of becoming a doctor, however, his job as assistant to Dr Oldacre in a small mining town pays little, and Oldacre has refused point blank to loan him the money, so sadly, he sees little prospect of getting his hands on such a large sum.

However, a very strange event with an aggressive and demanding patient, takes place in the surgery during Dr Oldacre’s absence - an event that gives Robert the chance to earn more money than he needs, but it means that he will have to take part in a prize fight with a part time pugilist, with the winner taking the £100 purse. Winning this fight would come with the additional benefit of being able to leave his position as assistant to the pious and mean minded Dr Oldacre, an outcome that Montgomery finds most attractive.

The Croxley Master was a really fun read with some interesting characters. Arthur Conan Doyle was fond of many sports, but boxing was something he particularly enjoyed, and was known to have participated in himself, and I think it shows in this short story, his enjoyment definitely shines through. Enjoyed it!

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Croxley Master or The Master of Croxley as my edition had it, and what I prefer, is a short and effective boxing tale by the literary master most known for his excellent Sherlock Holmes stories. I liked this one, even though I have little interest in the sport it so evocatively captures. It's very much a simple, "triumph of the underdog" story as made famous decades later in a similar fashion by the Rocky movies. But it's fun, convincing and enjoyable despite the unwelcome presence of dialectic writing, where you can barely understand a goddamned thing some characters are saying. One of the few major flaws in this period of popular literature, in my opinion.

I also loved the ending. It leaves one humphing smilingly with satisfaction.

[Emmy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite ACD story by any stretch, but a decent one. I think that perhaps if I was in a better frame of mind for this type of story, I would have enjoyed it more. Perhaps, I'll give it another go in a few years.

[Jarmby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short story told with realism
Sets the scene well , although there is not much substance to the tale

[John Monro · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Croxley Master is the first in a collection of short stories by Conan Doyle "Tales from the Ring and the Camp". I own a John Murray compendium edition of six volumes of short stories. Some years ago, in 1967, the BBC broadcast excellent dramatisations of some of these stories, and the Croxley Master was one of them. (What happened to the series I don't know, perhaps they were 'wiped'?) If you enjoy Sherlock Holmes but haven't got round to reading any of Conan Doyle's other extensive and varied output, you've got a treat in store. This story revolves around a young medical assistant who works for a stern and demanding practitioner, Dr Oldacre, in a northern colliery town, presumably in Yorkshire. Our protagonist, Mr Robert Montgomery, needs £60 to complete his degree. He despairs at being able to find this sum, certainly he won't earn enough from Dr Oldacre, until a chance encounter with a demanding patient sees his mettle tested. The result is that he finds himself taking on a prize fight with the local pugilist and the chance to win the £100 purse, and his freedom from Dr Oldacre's less than satisfactory employment. It's a fun story, excellent dialogue and pacing, and a fine example of Doyle's mastery of the short story. As I was brought up in Yorkshire, nearly 70 years ago, there's my personal enjoyment of the dialogue and description of the town, and as a doctor, I thank my lucky stars I didn't have to undergo the tribulations of Mr Montgomery. . There is too Doyle's obvious enjoyment in writing about so many disparate themes. Conan Doyle writes in his preface to the compendium volume "These stories have already been published in six separate volumes, which subdivided them roughly into those that dealt with the sea, with sport, with war, with the preternatural, with medicine and with history. ....... I am occasionally asked which of these subjects would be my own particular choice. I am interested in many aspects of life, and try to write only of that which really attracts me, but if it were needful to discriminate ...... my choice would be those short historical pictures...."Tales of Long Ago""

Still, the Croxley Master is a jolly good start.

[Asails F · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boring details of the old fights

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boring details of the old fights

[Ema · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Sherlock Holmes more