Raffles Holmes & Company Book

Penzler Pick, April 2002: While Sherlock Holmes remains one of the most famous people who ever lived (George Bernard Shaw claimed his only equals were Jesus Christ and Hamlet in terms of recognition), his popularity was briefly equaled (or nearly so) during the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras by a figure much more obscure today: A.J. Raffles, the amateur cracksman, gentleman jewel thief, and noted cricketer. And while Arthur Conan Doyle is a name known to every literate soul, Raffles's creator is hardly a household name. Curiously, E.W. Hornung, the author of a couple of dozen books between 1890 and 1923, was Doyle's brother-in-law. It seems likely that he created his famous gentleman crook to tweak the nose of the stuffy Doyle by making a rogue the hero of his own books. John Kendrick Bangs was a hugely popular American humorist during the same years in which Doyle and Hornung flourished, and he practically made a career of writing parodies of their two famous protagonists. Among Bangs's works are The Pursuit of the House-Boat, The Enchanted Type-Writer, and The Dreamers: A Club, in all of which Holmes appears as a dead man--a ghost, as it were--with other well-known characters. Bangs also wrote Mrs. Raffles, about a female jewel thief, and topped it off by writing R. Holmes & Co. in 1906, in which the progeny of Sherlock Holmes and A.J. Raffles's daughter stars as the titular character. While some of the humor has dated a good deal, the nine stories that make up the current volume are often amusing, especially as Holmes finds himself torn between his instincts to steal and his desire to catch criminals. For those who have never read the original stores about A.J. Raffles, I recommend that you find a copy of The Amateur Cracksman, Raffles, or A Thief in the Night. I assume you've read the original Sherlock Holmes stories, or you wouldn't even think of browsing in the mystery section. Once you've read all of the real thing, the works of John Kendrick Bangs make a pretty good addition to the shelves. --Otto PenzlerRead More