Having loved John Buchan's Richard Hannay stories, I was disappointed in this collection of short stories. I found them dated socially and politically, and those narrated in Scottish dialogue were difficult to understand. The collection was edited by someone (David Daniell) who loved Buchan's stories, and who describes (in the introduction) how difficult he found it to choose 12 of "the best". Several, interestingly, were written by Buchan when he was only an undergraduate, while others span the authors writing career.

This collection includes adventure tales, semi- humorous commentaries, personality sketches, and perspectives on mortality and death. The included stories are listed below, with my ranking of 1 to 5 stars. As noted, I found only one that stood out as memorable, "The Frying Pan and the Fire", a semi-humorous chase story:

The Company of the Marjolaine (1*)
The Herd of Standlan (1*)
The Last Crusade (1*)
The Black Fishers (2.5*)
At the Rising of the Waters (2*)
The Grove of Ashtaroth (1*)
At the Article of Death (3*)
Comedy in the Full Moon (2.5*)
'Divus' Johnson (1*)
Politics and the Mayfly (1.5*)
The Wife of Flanders (1.5*)
The Frying Pan and the Fire (4 *)

Based on this reading experience, I'm not inclined to seek out the 3 volume set of Buchan's short stories. ( )