Wikipedia:Today's featured list/July 25, 2014
E. W. Hornung's writing career lasted from 1887 until his death in 1921. Born in England, Hornung spent two years in Australia for health reasons, and used his Australian experiences as background to a number of novels once he had returned to Britain to begin writing professionally. Hornung had his first work published in 1887—the short story "Stroke of Five" in Belgravia magazine. His first novel, A Bride from the Bush, was published in 1890. In 1899 he published The Amateur Cracksman, a series of short stories about A. J. Raffles (drawing pictured), a gentleman thief in late-Victorian Britain, and his friend Bunny Manders: the two were the criminal counterparts to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Hornung dedicated the book to his brother-in-law, the writer Arthur Conan Doyle. Hornung was a prolific writer, completing 21 novels, three editions of poetry and two works of non-fiction, but it is for the character of Raffles that he is best remembered. Hornung's son Oscar was killed at the Second Battle of Ypres in July 1915, which marked the end of Hornung's work in fiction. (Full list...)