The Amateur Cracksman by E.W. Hornung

The Amateur Cracksman’ was the original short story collection by E.W. Hornung featuring his most famous character A. J. Raffles, a gentleman thief in late Victorian England. It was first published in 1899. The book was very well received and spawned three follow-ups: two more short story collections, ‘The Black Mask’ (1901) and ‘A Thief in the Night’ (1904), as well as a full-length novel, ‘Mr. Justice Raffles’ in 1909.