Raffles: Further Adventures of the Amateur Cracksman

"Raffles: Further Adventures of the Amateur Cracksman" is even more enjoyable than its predecessor, "The Amateur Cracksman." E.W. Hornung, having already established the characters of gentleman thief A.J. Raffles and accomplice-chronicler Bunny in the first book, is freed up to have more fun with his creations and allow them to embark on adventures that aren't all strictly criminal in nature.

In "Further Adventures," Hornung departs somewhat from the writing style of his brother-in-law, Arthur Conan Doyle, by making the episodic Raffles stories more interconnected than the Sherlock Holmes stories are. (Raffles and Bunny are sort of scofflaw versions of Holmes and Watson.) Hornung also often puts Raffles and Bunny in serious danger, something Doyle rarely seemed willing to do with his characters. Without giving too much away, this is particularly harrowing in the last chapter of "Further Adventures."

Anyone who read and enjoyed the first Raffles book -- and it definitely should be read before this one, as the ending of that one is needed to understand how this one begins -- would find much to like in its follow-up.