Taking the waters is described in Charles Dickens' novel "The Pickwick Papers" in which Pickwick's servant, Sam Weller, comments that the water has "a very strong flavour o' warm flat irons". The Royal Crescent is the venue for a chase between two characters, Dowler and Winkle. Moyra Caldecott's novel "The Waters of Sul" is set in Roman Bath in AD 72, and "The Regency Detective", by David Lassman and Terence James, revolves around the exploits of Jack Swann investigating deaths in the city during the early 1800s. Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play "The Rivals" takes place in the city, as does Roald Dahl's chilling short story, "The Landlady".