by E. W. Hornung
Classic mysteryNo. 2601 hr 19 minA. J. Raffles
Two cases from the second Raffles collection — the book E. W. Hornung wrote after the one we finished last week. NO SINECURE is how it opens. Bunny is alone. He has served his sentence, he has come out to nothing at all, and he is reading the advertisement columns in the way men do when they have stopped expecting anything from life. One particular advertisement catches his eye. That is as much as we will say about it. It is the most carefully built opening in the whole collection, and it deserves to be heard rather than described. Hornung wrote eight further cases after closing the first book, and this collection is a harder, colder thing than the one before it. The charm survives. The freedom does not. A JUBILEE PRESENT is lighter by a very long way. The Room of Gold at the British Museum, in the summer of eighteen ninety-seven, with the whole Empire in London for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and a gold cup on display that has already survived one attempt. Raffles has views about it. Bunny, who really ought to know better by now, goes along. It is the closest Hornung ever comes to writing pure farce, and it is a useful reminder of why Bunny keeps coming back. FOR LISTENERS This is a complete, unabridged reading of these two stories by E. W. Hornung, collected in Raffles: Further Adventures of the Amateur Cracksman (1901) and now in the public domain. Every word is the author's own. Part of The Midnight Archive: three nights of classics every week, alongside four original Nocturnal Tales mysteries. YOU CHOOSE WHAT'S NEXT The Archive is deep — more A. J. Raffles? Max Carrados? Loveday Brooke? Judith Lee? Violet Strange? Sherlock Holmes? Father Brown? Lady Molly? Raffles? Dr Thorndyke? Arsène Lupin? Vote in the poll attached to this episode, or tell us in the comments which classic you want to hear by lamplight. Two cases, one bleak and one very nearly a joke, in the same evening. Which of tonight's two did you prefer? CHAPTERS 00:00 - Introduction 02:07 - Part One - No Sinecure 17:04 - Part Two - No Sinecure 31:54 - Part Three - No Sinecure 45:16 - Interlude 46:06 - Part One - A Jubilee Present 1:01:21 - Part Two - A Jubilee Present 1:16:30 - Closing SUPPORT & LISTENING OPTIONS ABOUT THIS RECORDING No Sinecure & A Jubilee Present by E. W. Hornung (1901) is in the public domain. This recording is the complete, unabridged original text. Narration and production Nocturnal Tales. CREDITS Narrated and produced by Nocturnal Tales. Story by E. W. Hornung (public domain). TAGS / KEYWORDS e w hornung audiobook, raffles audiobook, no sinecure audiobook, a jubilee present audiobook, raffles further adventures 1901, gentleman thief mystery, gentleman burglar story, british museum heist story, raffles and bunny, classic crime story audiobook, public domain audiobook, unabridged classic mystery HASHTAGS
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