Faulkner is one of those writers who has a style that can really put you to sleep. He's still unmistakably brilliant. The moments of romantic insight into human nature come so nonchalantly it's almost as if he was bored himself by them. 'Knight's Gambit' is a collection of six detective stories that only sometimes feels analogous to the perfect mystery of Sherlock Holmes stories, but, nevertheless, represents a rather unique take on that genre in the form of a partnership between 'first-rate' county lawyer Gavin Stevens and his 18-year-old nephew Charles. The solutions are not genius, but often the rarity of its gaze, Mississippi in the early 20th century, is. 'Smoke' is interesting, 'Tomorrow' and 'Monk' are sad, 'Hand Upon the Waters' is memorable, 'An Error in Chemistry' is okay, and the titular story, for all of its 100 pages of painstaking detail in cultural history and how humans sit down in a chair, is extremely exciting. Its view on race is 'correct' for its time but obviously leaves something to be desired today.