Ernest William Hornung was born in Middlesbrough England on 7th June 1866, the third son and youngest of eight children. Although spending most of his life in England and France he spent two years in Australia from 1884 and that experience was to colour and influence much of his written works. His most famous character A. J. Raffles, ‘the gentleman thief’, was published first in Cassell’s Magazine during 1898 and was to make him famous across the world as the new century dawned. It is on this character that this volume is based. Hornung was also wrote a stage play about Raffles as was a gifted poet. Spending time with the troops he published Notes of a Camp-Follower on the Western Front during 1919, a detailed account of his time there. This was especially close to his heart as his son and only child only child was killed at the Second Battle of Ypres on 6 July 1915. Ernest William Hornung died in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, in the south of France on 22 March 1921. Index of Contents Chapter I - The Belle of Toorak Chapter II - Injury Chapter III - Insult Chapter IV - Bethune of the Hall Chapter V - A Red Herring Chapter VI - Below Zero Chapter VII - A Cavalier Chapter VIII - The Kind of Life Chapter IX - Pax in Bello Chapter X - The Truth by Inches Chapter XI - Bethune v. Bethune Chapter XII - An Escapade Chapter XIII - Blind Man’s Block Chapter XIV - His Own Coin Chapter XV - The Fact of the Matter E. W. Hornung - A Short Biography E. W. Hornung - A Concise Bibliography