Raffles, Further Adventures of the Amateur Cracksman

Always debonair and impeccably turned out, cricketer for England with bachelor chambers in the Albany, Raffles appears the true English gentleman of leisure.Keatings Choice Gold Dagger Award First published in 1899, The Amateur Cracksman was the first collection of stories detailing the exploits and intrigues of gentleman thief A. J. Raffles in late Victorian England. Raffles was E. W. Hornung's most famous character. Popular in its day, the book led to three later works: The Black Mask and A Thief in the Night, both collections of short stories, and Mr. Justice Raffles, a complete novel. In public a popular sportsman, in private a cunning burglar with a weakness for valuable jewelery, Arthur Raffles, with the help of his side-kick Bunny Manders, always manages to thwart the investigations of Scotland Yard's Inspector Mackenzie. "A national sporting hero, Arthur J. Raffles is a prominent member of London society. As a cricketer, he regularly represents England in Test matches. He uses this as cover to commit a number of burglaries, primarily stealing valuable jewelry from the elite of London, for thrill and profit. He is assisted in this by his friend, the younger Harry "Bunny" Manders, who idealizes Raffles as a sportsman. Both men are constantly under the surveillance of Inspector Mackenzie of Scotland Yard, who is always thwarted in his attempts to pin the crimes on Raffles." --Wikipedia I am still uncertain which surprised me more, the telegram calling my attention to the advertisement, or the advertisement itself. The telegram is before me as I write. It would appear to have been handed in at Vere Street at eight o'clock in the morning of May 11, 1897, and received before half-past at Holloway B.O. And in that drab region it duly found me, unwashen but at work before the day grew hot and my attic insupportable. It was half-past twelve when I returned to the Albany as a last desperate resort.