Mr. Justice Raffles, by E.W. Hornung (Hardcover)
Brand : Wildside Press
$29.95
- SKU:
- 1592240674
- UPC:
- 1592240674
Hornung's gentleman thief made his first appearance in print inThe Amateur Cracksman in 1899, a collection of tales succeededby another short story series, The Black Mask, in 1901, and in1905, a final series, A Thief in the Night. In the latter volume,Hornung, like several other authors before and since, decidedto put an end to his own literary creation. He came closer tosucceeding than Conan Doyle did with Sherlock Holmes,L. Frank Baum with the land of Oz, or Ian Fleming with JamesBond. In the final Raffles short story, partly out of patriotism,partly in expiation for his life of crime, A. J. enlists along withBunny as soldiers in the Boer War, and during a battle, Rafflesis shot by enemy fire.
But four years later, in 1909, Hornung brought back his shadypair in Mr. Justice Raffles, a novel that like Doyle's Hound of theBaskervilles is not a resurrection but a reminiscence, apostscript acknowledged as such in its final chapter.