Joseph Bell is now chiefly remembered for his influence on his sometime clerk, Arthur Conan Doyle, who incorporated the formers celebrated powers of observation and deduction into the character of his great literary detective, Sherlock Holmes. But in his day he was widely lauded as an excellent and scientifically minded surgeon. He wrote many books and articles, such as this Manual of the Operations of Surgery, which was intended for the instruction of new doctors, incorporating the best methods and practices of the time. Bell was a meticulous and concise author, and made great use of...

Love, passion and greed are set against the horror of a brutal civil war in 1970s East Africa. Insurance engineer O'Grady is sent to investigate an explosion on a hospital ship. Motivated by his attraction to a lady doctor, he takes charge of trying to save the old vessel. He meets Alan Craig, Government military advisor and the soldier and engineer become firm friends. O'Grady then buys and commissions an ancient tug for a lucrative contract that also keeps him near the doctor. He and his son are welcomed by the colonials, where nobody is quite as they appear, including Craig and his...