Thief in the Night: Further Adventures of A. J. Raffles, Cricketer and Cracksman, A [Paperback]

E. W. Hornung (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2002

Probably the most famous thief of all fiction, Raffles was a man-about-town and famous cricketer by day and a master burglar by night. When they were first issued at the turn of the century, these stories rivaled the popularity of Sherlock Holmes and established the prototype for The Saint, James Bond, and the other gentleman-rogue figures of popular fiction. Raffles has been called "the greatest cracksman in the literature of roguery" by the Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection, while Ellery Queen has described Raffles as the "inspiration for the whole school of devil-may-care adventurers on the borderlines of the law, not least the eponymous James Bond."

E. W. Hornung was friendly with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and married his sister. Hornung took his brother-in-law’s detective pair, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, and reincarnated them on the wrong side of the law as Raffles and Bunny, who pursued the business of getting a living by the entirely logical method of stealing it. Conan Doyle wrote in his autobiography: "I think I may claim that his famous character Raffles was a kind of inversion of Sherlock Holmes, Bunny playing Watson. He admits as much in his kindly dedication. I think there are few finder examples of short-story writing in our language than these, though I confess I think they are rather dangerous in their suggestion. I told him so before he put pen to paper, and the result has, I fear, borne me out. You must not make the criminal a hero."

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Fredonia Books (NL) (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158963716X
• ISBN-13: 978-1589637160
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 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: #9,423,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Raffles is THE Gentleman Thief, December 4, 2004

By 

ffoulkes "ffoulkes" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thief in the Night: Further Adventures of A. J. Raffles, Cricketer and Cracksman, A (Paperback)

I was ahgast while reading customer reviews of Lawrence Block's "Burglars Can't be Choosers" to read the comment, "This book is admirable from the standpoint that Mr. Block invented a new mystery genre." Not so, for in the 1900s, there was E.W. Hornung. While his brother-in-law's creation Sherlock Holmes was popular, Hornung created something of a anti-Holmes in the form of a gentleman thief named A.J. Raffles. Raffles is charming, yet vicious (which the reader will see in this book). The prose style of "A Thief in the Night" can be most closely compared to Doyle's "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes". Expect suspense, clever plots, and one addictive thief. I highly recommend this book and the earlier Raffles books to anyone who enjoys both Lawrence BLock and Arthur Conan Doyle.

1 of 1 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: Thief in the Night: Further Adventures of A. J. Raffles, Cricketer and Cracksman, A (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.'"