Rodney Stone is a historical novel about boxing during the Regency period, that curiously brings together Lord Nelson and the sport of boxing. Doyle had always been fond of boxing, had reveled in the history of the prize-ring, and in Rodney Stone his enthusiasm and knowledge are apparent.. As usual the action-episodes are first-rate; and as usual the historical personages are not an integral part of the story, but Doyle wanted to reconstruct an age, and so Nelson, the Prince Regent, Sheridan, Fox, Beau Brummell, and others, pop in and out of the pages for the sole purpose of creating a "period piece." Arthur Conan Doyle believed that this book was an important factor in the surge of interest in boxing after the turn of the century.