Like many of his stories, Q’s tales of this time are based on oral and family histories he heard over many years. He wrote about them, using lightly disguised names and locations in a number of short stories which are included in Volume IV of this series (Volume IV - Tales of The Looe Die-Hards I - The Short Stories) and a novella, “Volume V - Tales of The Looe Die-Hards II - The Mayor of Troy”, which is the subject of this volume.

The story is annotated to explain Cornish terms, and to identify locations as well as the real, historical, personalities used in Q’s factional stories. In Q's original work, in comments made by two characters, Q used a racial description which is now unacceptable. He was a liberal person and they were not his views but presumably were commonplace at the time of his writing and the period of the Napoleonic Wars. Nevertheless, they seem inappropriate and jar on reading them on the page so the relevant sentences have been rephrased to remove the offensive word thus eliminating any possibility of offence. The changes make no material difference to the story at all.

“The Mayor of Troy” was the only one of Q’s stories which was also produced on stage. When adapting this story, Q changed it significantly and the play contained new characters, some name changes and a different ending. Due to unfortunate timing and events the play was not a great success but it was eagerly anticipated. There was significant interest before it opened and, just out of historical interest, this volume includes some of the images from the play’s advertising as well as profiles of the cast..