The Black Mask
Publisher: Standard Ebooks
Published: 2021
Language: eng
Subjects: Raffles (Fictitious character) -- Fiction; Criminals -- England -- Fiction; Mystery fiction
Description: <p>After the events of <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/e-w-hornung/the-amateur-cracksman"><i>The Amateur Cracksman</i></a> <a href="https://standardebooks.org/collections/a-j-raffles"><abbr>A. J.</abbr> Raffles</a> is missing, presumed dead, and “Bunny” Manders is destitute but free after a stretch in prison for his crimes. So when a mysterious telegraph arrives suggesting the possibility of a lucrative position, Bunny has little option but to attend the given address.</p>
			<p>Raffles was a commercial success for <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/e-w-hornung"><abbr>E. W.</abbr> Hornung</a>, garnering critical praise but also warnings about the glorification of crime. <i>The Black Mask</i>, published two years after his first collection of Raffles stories, takes a markedly more downcast tone, with the high-life escapades of the earlier stories curtailed by Raffles’ purported death.</p>