W. W. Jacobs at novel length: A Master of Craft (1900) follows the comic misadventures of a Thames bargeman whose elaborate scheme to simultaneously manage two women on two different ships goes exactly as spectacularly wrong as it richly deserves to. Jacobs’s plotting is meticulous and intricate, and his comic timing throughout is as immaculate as anything in his short stories.
Pure pleasure from first page to last — Jacobs building an airtight comic structure with the patience and skill of a craftsman, then watching it collapse with perfect theatrical control. Download this free EPUB and observe the master of craft at practised work.