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Loading... An African Millionaire: Episodes in the Life of the Illustrious Colonel Clayby Grant Allen
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. A good popcorn book with some sly humor and a bit of social commentary. Reminiscent of A Prince of Swindlers. ( ) A collection of short stories about a confidence trickster preying on the millionaire of the title. This con-man,who goes under the name of Colonel Clay is a master of disguise and can change his appearance to a remarkable degree. He first coup is to get himself invited to a seance as a 'Mexican Seer' and perform a series of seemingly supernatural acts. This in front of a group of people which include Sir Charles Vandrift and his secretary Seymour Wilbraham Wentworth. As as result of his actions he relieves Sir Charles of some £5000. In most of the other stories he manages by various methods to extract money,diamonds,bonds and cheques from the increasingly desperate millionaire,who tries unsuccessfully to capture him. The thief pre-dates Hornung's A.J.Raffles by a few years,but is very much of the same type - a gentleman thief,that the reader can feel sympathy with. Although the stories begin to get somewhat similar as the book progresses and the feeling that the millionaire and his helpers are rather more stupid and gullible than necessary,this still,remains after all these years a good read. no reviews | add a review
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This fantastic anthology contains twelve superbly entertaining tales of a confidence man par excellence. An appealing gentleman thief devotes himself to repeatedly swindling a wealthy diamond magnate. This well-written collection has been specially formatted for today's e-readers by Andrews UK. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.8Literature English English fiction Victorian period 1837-1900LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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