Varastaiteilija

"Varastaiteilija" by E. W. Hornung is a collection of short stories written in the late 19th century. It follows the elegant gentleman-thief A. J. Raffles and his friend-narrator Bunny Manders as they stage audacious burglaries that turn the detective genre on its head, mixing high-society polish with criminal daring. The opening of Varastaiteilija begins with a critical preface that traces the arc from picaresque tales to modern detective fiction, positioning Raffles as a deliberate return to the charming rogue. The first story, Idus Martii, introduces Bunny ruined by gambling at Raffles’s Albany rooms, on the brink of suicide, when Raffles coolly reveals he is a professional burglar and enlists Bunny for a Bond Street jeweler heist that very night. They infiltrate via an empty upstairs flat, drill through a fortified door and grille, time their moves around the night watch, and quietly strip the window display before slipping back to Albany with a glittering haul—after which Bunny, shaken yet dazzled, agrees to become Raffles’s partner. The next tale, Pukuharjotus, opens with the notorious magnate Ruben Rosenthal flaunting two purplish diamonds and a revolver at a club dinner; Raffles treats the boast as a challenge, vows to take the stones, and begins discreet surveillance while keeping Bunny largely in the dark—the excerpt ending before the plan is revealed. (This is an automatically generated summary.)