The Raffles Collection

Raffles Collection (The collected stories of A. J. Raffles. Four books in one volume!)Athletic, attractive, amorous and villainous A.J. Raffles is virtually the mirror-image of Sherlock Holmes. Small wonder, considering that he was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle s brother-in-law E.W. Hornung . The master thief shares his Christian name with Holmes creator, and the 1892 Conan Doyle story The Doings of Raffles Haw may have provided his surname. The dedication for the first volume of Raffles adventures The Amateur Cracksman reads: To ACD this form of flattery .In his autobiography, Conan Doyle wrote: 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. Bunny is Bunny Manders, real name Harry, Raffles friend from his schooldays. Bunny inherited money, and the two lost touch. But he couldn t hold onto his wealth, and on March 15th , 1891, he knocks at Raffles door seeking his old pal s help. The response he receives isn t quite what he hoped for D you think that because a fellow has rooms in this place, and belongs to a club or two, and plays a little cricket, he must necessarily have a balance at the bank? I tell you, my dear man, that at this moment I m as hard up as ever you were. I have nothing but my wits to live on absolutely nothing else. Raffles agrees to help, but as Bunny discovers when they enter a Bond Street jeweler s in the dead of night, his brand of assistance is far from conventional. Their destinies are joined that night, and Hornung charts their adventures in two further collections, The Black Mask and A Thief in the Night.Raffles is one of England s most celebrated gentlemen cricketers, but his taste for the high life is more than he can afford legally. His philosophy is very simple: Why should I work when I could steal? he asks in the Ides of March. Why settle down to some humdrum uncongenial billet, when excitement, romance, danger, and a decent living were all going begging together. Of course, it s very wrong, but we can t all be moralists, and the distribution of wealth is very wrong to begin with. Raffles has been played on film by Ronald Colman and David Niven and on television by Anthony Valentine and Nigel Havers.    The Amateur Cracksman (1899)The Ides of MarchA Costume PieceGentlemen and PlayersLe Premier PasWilful MurderNine Points of the LawThe Return MatchThe Gift of the Emperor    Further Adventures of the Amateur Cracksman aka The Black Mask (1901)No SinecureA Jubilee PresentThe Fate Of FaustinaThe Last LaughTo Catch A ThiefAn Old FlameThe Wrong HouseThe Knees Of The Gods    A Thief in the Night (1905)Out of ParadiseThe Chest of SilverThe Rest CureThe Criminologists' ClubThe Field of PhillipiA Bad NightA Trap to Catch a CracksmanThe Spoils of SacrilegeThe Raffles RelicsThe Last Word    Mr. Justice Raffles (1909) (novel)