This early work by Ernest William Hornung was originally published in 1897 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. Ernest William Hornung was born in Middlesbrough, England in 1866. After working briefly as a journalist, and publishing a series of poems in The Times, Hornung created the character for which he is best-remembered: A. J. Raffles, a "gentleman thief" plying his trade in Victorian London.