"That last affair of Raffles and mine, wherein we had successfully got away with the diamond stomacher of the duchess of Herringdale, was still a live matter in British detective circles, and the very audacity of the crime had definitely fastened the responsibility for it upon our shoulders." (Mrs. Raffles) Mrs. Raffles - After the death of her husband A. J. Raffles, the popular 'Gentleman-Thief', his wife dons the hat of the clever thief with her husband's ex-partner Bunny posing as her butler in American high society. What follows then are entertaining stories of suspense and adventure with good dose of satire on the American high class. R. Holmes and Co. - Like his ingenious grandfather and grandmother, the amateur thieves, R. Holmes combines the best of Sherlock Holmes (his father) and maternal grandparents (A. J. Raffles and Mrs. Raffles) to start his own company. But it is left to see which inherited trait will dominate him, his father's or grandparents'? It is a pure pastiche and amusing parody of Sherlock Holmes series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. John Kendrick Bangs (1862-1922) was an American author, editor and satirist. He extended the original A. J. Raffles series by E. W. Hornung, who himself had inverted the character of Sherlock Holmes of his brother-in-law Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as a form of flattery.