Just the job

This month’s story is all about how a character applies for a job that leads him into an unusual adventure. In Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Beetle Hunter we’ll see how having a very specific skill set leads the narrator into a well paid but somewhat risky position. As always, you’ll get the most out of the masterclass if you read the story for yourself: https://writ.rs/thebeetlehunter.

The story starts with the narrator, Dr Hamilton, setting out his credentials. Firstly, he lets us know he is a doctor, thus conveying an air of respectability. He follows this up with an insistence that the story happened exactly as he tells us.

We start the story with him being in a very particular position. He has completed his medical training, but he has not yet started to practise, which has left him strapped for cash. This combination of circumstances leads directly to what happens to him next.