These "Further Adventures" is a collection of stories about the ever-popular amateur thief Raffles, following the success of "The Amateur Cracksman."

Arthur J. Raffles is a character created in the 1890s by E. W. Hornung, brother-in-law to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Raffles is, in many ways, a deliberate inversion of Holmes – he is a "gentleman thief", living at the Albany, a prestigious address in London, playing cricket for the Gentlemen of England and supporting himself by carrying out ingenious burglaries. He is called the "Amateur Cracksman", and often, at first, differentiates between himself and the "professors" – professional criminals from the lower classes.

As Holmes has Dr. Watson to chronicle his adventures, Raffles has Harry "Bunny" Manders – a former schoolmate saved from disgrace and suicide by Raffles, whom Raffles persuaded to accompany him on a burglary. While Raffles often takes advantage of Manders' relative innocence, and sometimes treats him with a certain amount of contempt, he knows that Manders' bravery and loyalty are to be relied on utterly. In several stories, Manders saves the day for the two of them after Raffles gets into situations he cannot get out of on his own.

One of the things that Raffles has in common with Holmes is a mastery of disguise – during his days as an ostensible man-about-town, he maintains a studio apartment in another name in which he keeps the components of various disguises. He can imitate the regional speech of many parts of Britain flawlessly, and is fluent in Italian.

NOSINECURE (Excerpt)

I am still uncertain which surprised me more, thetelegram calling my attention to the advertisement, or theadvertisement itself. The telegram is before me as I write. It wouldappear to have been handed in at Vere Street at eight o'clock in themorning of May 11, 1897, and received before half-past at HollowayB.O. And in that drab region it duly found me, unwashen but at workbefore the day grew hot and my attic insupportable.

"See Mr. Maturin's advertisement Daily Mailmight suit you earnestly beg try will speak if necessary —— ——"

I transcribe the thing as I see it before me, allin one breath that took away mine; but I leave out the initials atthe end, which completed the surprise. They stood very obviously forthe knighted specialist whose consulting-room is within...