 The fictional character Stingaree proved to be a prototype of a character Hornung used in a series of six short stories published in 1898 in <unk> 's Magazine , A. J. Raffles . The character was modelled on George Cecil <unk> , a Cambridge @-@ educated <unk> and talented <unk> who , like Raffles , was a resident of the Albany , a gentlemen 's only residence in Mayfair . The first tale of the series " In the Chains of Crime " was published in June that year , titled " The Ides of March " . The stories were collected into one volume — with two additional tales — under the name The Amateur Cracksman , which was published the following year . Hornung used a narrative form similar to Doyle 's Sherlock Holmes stories , with Raffles and his partner @-@ in @-@ crime ( and former school <unk> ) Bunny Manders being the criminal counterparts to Holmes and Dr. Watson — although Rowland writes that Raffles and Manders " were also fictionalized versions of Wilde and <unk> " ( Wilde 's lover , Lord Alfred Douglas ) . — and he dedicated the stories to his brother @-@ in @-@ law : " To <unk> This form of <unk> " . Doyle had warned against writing the stories , and reflected in his memoirs that " there are few finer examples of short @-@ story writing in our language than these , though I confess I think they are rather dangerous in their suggestion . I told him so before he put pen to paper , and the result has , I fear , borne me out . You must not make the criminal the hero " . The book was a popular and financial success , although some critics also echoed Doyle 's fears . The reviewer in The Spectator wrote that " stern <unk> " would consider the book 's premise " as a new , ingenious , artistic , but most <unk> application of the crude principles involved in the old @-@ fashioned hero @-@ worship of Jack <unk> and Dick <unk> " . The book ends with Manders imprisoned and Raffles apparently dead , something that left The Spectator reviewer " expressing [ their ] satisfaction that this <unk> entertaining volume is not issued in a cheap form . It is emphatically a feat of virtuosity rather than a tribute to virtue . " 
