This note does not contain major spoilers for the book.

An interesting excuse to collect a bunch of bizarre stories about terribly eccentric people—the Club is small, and only for people who support themselves by a trade they have invented themselves. Some of the people seem really loosely connected to that concept.

There's an insane former judge who's the main "detective" such as he is, and another younger man who's an amateur. They almost never deal with anything actually criminal.

The thing I really can't stomach is the clear claim that you can tell on brief acquaintance whether somebody is a good person or not. That's total rubbish.

As with the Arthur Conan Doyle, I find this very interesting primarily as a period piece.