E. W. Hornung

Raffles a gentleman thief is brash debonair devilishly attractive and a top-notch cricket player. In these eight tales the master thief indulges his love of cricket and his penchant for crime robbing the nouveau riche evading the cops and of course bowling like a demon—all with the help of his resourceful sidekick Bunny. Raffles and Bunny are two young males who do not want to work for a living despite having significant debt. To maintain their lifestyles of idle luxury they turn to crime notably burglary. Raffles is nearly superhuman rational and frigid. Because Bunny is so dumb the reader enjoys knowing more than he does and snickering at everything he overlooks. It lacks any notable female characters and has some casual bigotry characteristics of the historical period. The actual burglary escapades are fine—not great or awful—but for me the true enjoyment came from getting a glimpse into a brain and environment that seem fascinatingly foreign