Mr. Justice Raffles (Dodo Press) [Paperback]

E. W. Hornung (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 2008

Ernest William Hornung (1866-1921) was an English author. He spent most of his life in England and France, but in 1884 left for Australia and stayed for two years. Although his Australian experience had been so short, it coloured most of his literary work from A Bride from the Bush (1890), to Old Offenders and a Few Old Scores (1923) which appeared after his death. He published the poems Bond and Free and Wooden Crosses in The Times. The character of A. J. Raffles, a "gentleman thief", first appeared in Cassell's Magazine in 1898 and the stories were later collected as The Amateur Cracksman (1899). After Hornung spent time in the trenches with the troops in France, he published Notes of a Camp-Follower on the Western Front in 1919, a detailed account of his time there. His other works include: Dead Men Tell No Tales (1899), The Black Mask (1901), No Hero (1903), A Thief in the Night: A Book of Raffles' Adventures (1905) and Mr. Justice Raffles (1909).

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Dodo Press (January 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1406568627
• ISBN-13: 978-1406568622
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,151,637 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cricketers and Usurers and Young Ladies, Oh My!, January 28, 2006

By 

Austenparker "Life is too short to read bad b... (Well, where are YOU?) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Mr. Justice Raffles (Hardcover)

For those following the exploits of A.J. Raffles & his amanuensis, the faithful Bunny Manders, this novel-length edition is a great augmentation to the Raffles oeuvre. Raffles finds his young friend, Teddy Garland, in embarrassed financial straits. Through extricating Teddy, Raffles & the inexorable Bunny find themselves matching wits with Dan Levy, a notorious loan shark. This incident proves to be a catalyst to the series of thrilling events which pit Dan Levy, a cunning foe, against our staunch anti-hero, Raffles.

Though mired by the heavy-handed Victorian anti-semitism embodied in the characterization (one may even say caricature) of Levy, the book, if considered in the light of the prevalent contemporary culture, is an enjoyable ride through the flipside of Holmesian England. If you can stomach the equivalent treatment of Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice", then you are prepared for the rife prejudice of Hornung's portrayal of Dan Levy.

This addition to the Raffles series also features a far more profound romantic side to Raffles than seen earlier in his dalliance with the young German lady in "The Gift of the Emperor."

All in all, a suspenseful volume worthy of the legend of Raffles.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great criminal from Conan Doyle's brother-in-law, February 1, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Mr. Justice Raffles (Paperback)

H. R. F. Keating wrote (in Henderson's Crime & Mystery Writers) "I put E. W. Hornung's stories about A. J. Raffles, gentleman cracksman, squarely besides the Holmes tales of Conan Doyle (Hornung's brother-in-law). Both sets of stories seem to me to have that feeling of absolute rightness, perhaps the surest way of distinguishing that hard to define thing, 'the classic.'"