The Black Mask

The Black Mask is a 1901 short story collection by E. W. Hornung. It was published in the UK by Grant Richards, London, and in the US by Scribner's, New York under the title Raffles: Further Adventures of the Amateur Cracksman. It is the second collection of stories in Hornung's series concerning A. J. Raffles, a gentleman thief in late Victorian London. Several of the stories were adapted for the 1977 Raffles television series. Overview Following the events of the final story of the preceding short story collection, the reputations of A. J. Raffles and his companion Bunny Manders are ruined. Raffles is assumed to have drowned in the Mediterranean, and Bunny has faced eighteen months in prison and is struggling to get back on his feet.