by E. W. Hornung
Classic mysteryNo. 2461 hr 13 minA. J. Raffles
Two cases tonight from the gentleman thief who has drawn more requests than anybody else in the Archive. WILFUL MURDER is the darkest thing in the whole collection. Bunny warns us at the outset that most of their robberies will not bear telling at length. This one will — because on this occasion Raffles is not planning a theft at all. There is a man who knows too much about them, a fence out at Willesden with a nasty habit of following people home, and Raffles has worked out, quite calmly and from the comfort of an armchair, what the only permanent solution to such a man would be. He is not joking. Bunny cannot make him stop. NINE POINTS OF THE LAW is the antidote, and Hornung knew exactly what he was doing by pairing this kind of story with that kind. A gentleman answers a very strange advertisement and engages Raffles for a very particular commission: not to steal something belonging to somebody else, but to steal back something that was stolen from him. Possession, as the saying goes, is nine points of the law. Raffles has always found the tenth point negotiable. Both come from The Amateur Cracksman (1899), the book that invented the gentleman thief and made a hero of a man the reader really should not be rooting for. FOR LISTENERS This is a complete, unabridged reading of these two stories by E. W. Hornung, collected in The Amateur Cracksman (1899) 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 from tonight's detective? Loveday Brooke? Violet Strange? Sherlock Holmes? Father Brown? Max Carrados? 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. Wilful Murder shows you what Raffles actually is; Nine Points reminds you why Bunny keeps coming back. Which of tonight's two did you prefer? CHAPTERS 00:00 - Introduction 01:46 - Wilful Murder 33:42 - Interlude 34:24 - Nine Points of the Law SUPPORT & LISTENING OPTIONS ABOUT THIS RECORDING Wilful Murder & Nine Points of the Law by E. W. Hornung (1899) 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, wilful murder audiobook, nine points of the law audiobook, the amateur cracksman 1899, gentleman thief mystery, gentleman burglar story, victorian crime fiction, raffles and bunny, classic detective story audiobook, public domain audiobook, unabridged classic mystery HASHTAGS
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