The Amateur Cracksman

Name: The Amateur Cracksman
Rating: 3.57 (2737 reviews)

by E W Hornung Book 1 in the Raffles series.

First published 1899

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Bunny Manders, ruined after gambling away his money, turns in desperation to his former school hero A. J. Raffles. Raffles appears to be a leisured cricketer and man about town, but he reveals that his income comes from carefully planned burglaries and recruits Bunny as his reluctant partner.

The linked stories move through Albany chambers, country houses, jewellers, clubs and cricket grounds as Raffles treats theft as both performance and sport. Bunny’s admiration never removes his unease, and the collection uses their divided loyalties to examine class privilege, masculine codes and the concealed criminality of respectable late Victorian society.