A Thief in the Night: A Book of Raffles' Adventures

A Thief in the Night is a 1905 collection of short stories by Ernest William Hornung, featuring his popular character A. J. Raffles. It was the third book in the series, and the final collection of short stories. In it, Raffles, a gentleman thief, co ... Read more

A Thief in the Night is a 1905 collection of short stories by Ernest William Hornung, featuring his popular character A. J. Raffles. It was the third book in the series, and the final collection of short stories. In it, Raffles, a gentleman thief, commits a number of burglaries in late Victorian England. A full-length Raffles novel, Mr. Justice Raffles, would follow in 1909. Chronicler and accomplice Bunny Manders narrates additional adventures which he had previously omitted, from various points in their criminal careers. All but the last two stories take place while A. J. Raffles and Bunny Manders are still respectable gentlemen and Raffles is still an amateur cricketer who lives in rooms at the Albany. The two remaining stories take place after Raffles and Bunny become professional criminals of ruined reputations: the second last story follows after the events of "An Old Flame", and the final story takes place after the events of "The Knees of the Gods". All stories are largely self-contained and independent, with the exception of the last story, which serves as an epilogue to events explored in the first story. Each story was first published in serial format, except for "The Last Word" which is a short epilogue to the events of "Out of Paradise". Less