The Criminologists' Club
Encyclopedia
The Criminologists' Club is a short story
by Ernest William Hornung
featuring A.J. Raffles from the 1905 collection A Thief in the Night.
Raffles encounters a society of crime experts, who call themselves The Criminologists'. They take an interest in a number of crimes, especially the series of jewell robberies that have blighted London
society. Raffles and his friend Bunny Manders
are invited along obstensibly to discuss the potential of crime in sport (such as gambling and throwing off matches), as Raffles is a well-known cricketer. However, the club have in fact got their eye on Raffles as the notorious gentleman thief
.
When the Raffles stories were adapted for British teleivision in 1977, this story was merged with another The Jubilee Present to create a single episode The Gold Cup.
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by Ernest William Hornung
Ernest William Hornung
Ernest William Hornung , known as Willie, was an English author, most famous for writing the Raffles series of novels about a gentleman thief in late Victorian London....
featuring A.J. Raffles from the 1905 collection A Thief in the Night.
Raffles encounters a society of crime experts, who call themselves The Criminologists'. They take an interest in a number of crimes, especially the series of jewell robberies that have blighted London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
society. Raffles and his friend Bunny Manders
Bunny Manders
Harry Manders is a character in the popular series of Raffles novels by E.W. Hornung. He is the faithful companion of Raffles, a cricketer and gentleman thief, who makes a living robbing the rich in late Victorian British High Society.Whereas Raffles is sharp-witted and cynical, the younger Bunny...
are invited along obstensibly to discuss the potential of crime in sport (such as gambling and throwing off matches), as Raffles is a well-known cricketer. However, the club have in fact got their eye on Raffles as the notorious gentleman thief
Gentleman thief
In the Victorian vernacular, a gentleman thief is a particularly well-behaving and apparently well bred thief. A "gentleman" is usually, but not always, a man with an inherited title of nobility and inherited wealth, who need not work for a living. Such a man steals not in order to gain material...
.
When the Raffles stories were adapted for British teleivision in 1977, this story was merged with another The Jubilee Present to create a single episode The Gold Cup.