So, I
might be ever-so-slightly obsessed with these stories, I never expected to like them so much, but they are delightful and utterly addictive. Despite the fact that this collection (the last, to my despair) starts with Bunny declaring that 'Raffles was a
villain, when all is written... I shall make no
further secret of the greatest wrong that even Raffles ever did me', this collection is just as full of Bunny's blind adoration for Raffles as the previous ones. It's like Hornung is half-heartedly trying to make Raffles out to be morally reprehensible, but his charm proves insusceptible to such attacks. I also thought that this collection was funnier than the other ones (maybe it was just my mood though). In it, Raffles steals a house, sends himself home in a chest, hides from Bunny for extended periods of time in the said chest, visits Scotland Yard to check up on his reputation as a thief, and Bunny dresses up as a woman and is taken for Raffles' prostitute. The absurdity of some of the situations is really delightful. There are a lot of darker events too, and I think what I really love about these stories is the wonderful mix of the comic and the sinister in uneasy conjunction, as well as the profound moral ambiguity. I think this one might be my favourite collection, and Raffles' and Bunny's ventures seem to be crowned with a surprising amount of success (in other stories they seem to spend a lot of time attempting to steal things, but only succeeding in not getting caught).
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