Possible Clues:

• R. L. —, author
• Man who wrote religious text finally shortened church service
• Robert Louis —, Scottish novelist
• Scottish author nevertheless Samoan at the end, by the way
• Good chap with just the same name as writer
• Writer of Treasure Island, d. 1894
• '— seemed to pick the right word up on the point of his pen, like a man playing spillikins' (G. K. Chesterton)
• Heavyweight poet, displacing seven tons
• Novelist losing heart in short, short service
• Flat on street taken by minor Scottish writer