Raffles

These Further Adventures is a collection of stories about the ever-popular amateur thief Raffles following the success of The Amateur Cracksman. Arthur J. Raffles is a character created in the 1890s by E. W. Hornung brother-in-law to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Raffles is in many ways a deliberate inversion of Holmes – he is a gentleman thief living at the Albany a prestigious address in London playing cricket for the Gentlemen of England and supporting himself by carrying out ingenious burglaries. He is called the Amateur Cracksman and often at first differentiates between himself and the professors – professional criminals from the lower classes. As Holmes has Dr. Watson to chronicle his adventures Raffles has Harry Bunny Manders – a former schoolmate saved from disgrace and suicide by Raffles whom Raffles persuaded to accompany him on a burglary.