Tonight, I'm surfing the web regarding three twentieth century British writers who were contemporaries. Winston Graham, Dick Francis, and James Herriot. I then threw one more into the mix, from a few decades earlier, G.K. Chesterton. So, we have four writers, all of whom were enormously well-known, with works perhaps considered one step below literary writing (except for Chesterton) and certainly a step above most popular writing.

Their subject matter varied. Francis, a former jockey, wrote mysteries, many of them set in the world of horse racing. Chesterton was a writer with range, including philosophical works, but was popular for the Father Brown mysteries, anchored in Catholicism with hints of the supernatural. James Herriot's works were mostly autobiographical regarding the world of rural veterinary medicine in the 1930s to 1960s. And Winston Graham captivated thousands of readers, (and millions of television viewers) with his Poldark series, historical novels set in the late 1770s to early 1800s.

What they have in common is a deep appreciation for the human (and animal) condition, good and wicked. They convey everyday life in colorful entertaining detail. In other words, they know how to create a good read.

I must have read the first four books of the Poldark series at least seven times over, becoming absorbed into Graham's fictional world in coal mining villages of Cornwall. The first times, I was interested in the over-the-top lives of his characters. But then, I slowed down, and picked up the detours such as: The different vocalizations of frogs from different towns. Mischief among bankers. Watching his main characters shift from life without timepieces to the purchase of their first clock. Insane medical treatments of the day. The rescue of friends by boat during the French Revolution. Capturing moths with beer. Fishing for pilchard. How to survive a famine by scavenging shipwrecks. Clothing details. Travel across England by stagecoach.