The stories in Experiences of an Irish R. M. are almost entirely concerned with the doings of Skebawn in south-western Ireland and its surroundings. At the centre is the figure of Major Yeates, the Irish Resident Magistrate, who muddles through life as best he can and whose adventures always tell worse against himself. Each short tale offers a dazzling succession of incidents, quickfire dialogue and turnabouts of fate. They contain linguistic verve, dense social detail and what was termed by a contemporary, 'demoniac energy'.

The tough, roving humour of these sharply observed stories brought Edith Somerville and Martin Ross financial security and critical success.