This book has it all. A likeable narrator and a shrewd friend as his antagonist and mirror figure. A plot full of unexpected turns. Advice on entrepreneurship, especially the founding of a medical practice. Some light philosophy, mostly concerning dogma and religious practice. Descriptions of hunger and love and their effect on the digestive tract. A conversational tone which makes you feel almost as much at home as a Somerset-Maugham novel would. No wonder Leopold Bloom had this novel on his shelf. ( )

Dr. Stark Munro attempts to establish himself as a doctor in Great Britain in the 1880's. He corresponds with an American friend, Bertie, about religion, philosophy, his career and his odd colleague and sometimes-friend Cullingworth.

This epistolary novel by the Sherlock Holmes author rambles and digresses along, but is an interesting portrayal of medical practice at the time, and features a somewhat argumentative natural philosopher (Dr. Munro). The reader may find the hero's attitudes offensive at times (Dr. Munro sometimes revels in offending), and despair at his continual allowances for Cullingworth, but it is hard not to admire a man who is loyal to his friends and his beliefs. ( )

The Stark Munro Letters, a fictionalized autobiography, was begun in 1894 and concluded in 1895. Conan Doyle described this book as "the evolution of a young medico, based largely, on the subjective side, on my experience and feelings".