The Good Life of Crime

Most folks, while they may have heard of Arthur J. Raffles, have probably never read any of the stories written about that turn-of-the-last-century “gentleman thief” by E.W. Hornung, the brother-in-law of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. An obvious exception is Mary Reed, who writes a fine, fond reminiscence in Mystery*File of this cricketer-“cracksman” and his Watson-like associate, Harry “Bunny” Manders. Reed, the co-author (with Eric Mayer) of the John the Eunuch novels, including Six for Gold, gives a quite thorough description of Raffles and his criminal ethics, which includes this passage:

Despite his night work [as a burglar and master of disguise], Raffles abides by the unwritten rules of late Victorian life, one of which was there were certain things gentlemen simply did not do. However, he bends this implied code of conduct in an alarming fashion because while he will never rob his host, other guests’ valuables, particularly jewelry and gems, are fair game. On the other hand, while he cheerfully declares he would rob St. Paul’s Cathedral, he would neither pinch money from a shop till nor steal a bag of apples from an old lady. He believes human nature resembles a draughts board, alternatively black and white, asking Bunny why should anyone be all one colour or the other? However, he has not entirely gone to the bow-wows for Bunny also assures us Raffles “liked the light the better for the shade.”

On the other hand, Raffles has a lazy streak. He does not see why he should work when he can steal. He craves excitement and does not want a humdrum life “when excitement, romance, danger and a decent living [are] all going begging together...” (“The Ides of March”). He disarmingly admits his outlook is wrong, but further excuses it by pointing out … the unequal way wealth is distributed, noting not everyone can be a moralist and besides which, he was not out burgling every night. However, he is not Robin Hood stealing for the poor; he is Raffles, stealing for himself.

Two collections of Raffles stories--The Amateur Cracksman and A Thief in the Night--appear to still be in print, along with the only Raffles novel, Mr. Justice Raffles, though a third collection, The Black Mask, is less easily available in book form. However, a number of these stories can be found for free on the Web, courtesy of Project Gutenberg. Refer to the end of Reed’s Mystery*File piece for the appropriate links.