I needed a palette cleanser after War and Peace and so I just read both The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard and The Adventures of Brigadier Gerard by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Funny story, I didn't know there were 2 volumes and I read The Adventures (which is vol 2) before The Exploits(vol 1). Which didn't matter as its a collection of stories. It takes place in Paris at a cafe where an old hussar hangs out and he tells you about his adventures when he was a hussar for Napoleon's Grande Armée. Imagine D'Artagnan if he was a Napoleonic hussar and there were no musketeers to hang out with. He duels, is sent on James Bond style secret missions, wooes lovely ladies (that didn't really know what love was until they met Gerard! *swoon*), swaggers with his dangling saber, and twirls his mustache! Of course this is all told from Gerard's perspective as he recounts the tale so who knows how much of it was "true" and how much is imbelished. The stories are told out of order so the first story may take place in Spain in 1810 but the next one may be in Venice in 1805! This was rather confusing at times considering I read vol2 and then vol1, and the story about how he did something so unspeakable that any British soldier that finds him would execute him immediately, only for the next story to be about him in a British Lord's house after being released as a p.o.w. After consulting Wikipedia I discovered that the second story happened a year before the first (and that there was a volume 1 that told how he got captured). It was really fun to read. In one story he rides with a hussar to duel a German count that killed the hussar's father during the revolution, only to fall into a trap and have to McGuyver their way out and save the princess. So many twists and turns along with Gerard obviously embellishing the story a bit made for a really exciting and fun adventure. I listened to them on audio book which was great because the voice actor was British doing a faux French accent the whole time. He kept switching back and forth on the pronunciation of lieutenant that it added to the comedy, along with his exaggerated British accents he put on for British characters. If you're looking for some adventure or want to read some Doyle outside of Sherlock Holmes then check out this adventure comedy.