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An African Millionaire
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An African Millionaire Paperback - 2012

by Grant Allen; Introduction by Gary Hoppenstand

An excellent addition to Penguin's crime classics: the tantalizing tale of Colonel Clay, literature's first gentleman rogue.

Wealthy, confident and handsome, Sir Charles Van Drift spends his time jetting to exotic locales with his wife and in-laws. But on one fateful trip to the Riviera, Van Drift meets his match in Colonel Clay. Posing alternately as a seer, a curate, and a German professor, the master of disguise swindles Van Drift through three continents and poses a serious risk to his South African diamond fortune. Colonel Clay, the notorious con artist and thief, has triumphed. But who is this master of disguise, really?

First serialized in The Strand in 1896, the adventures that comprise An African Millionaire are widely regarded as the first to feature a criminal protagonist and will be greeted enthusiastically by fans and scholars of classic crime fiction.


Summary

An excellent addition to Penguin's crime classics: the tantalizing tale of Colonel Clay, literature's first gentleman rogue.

Wealthy, confident and handsome, Sir Charles Van Drift spends his time jetting to exotic locales with his wife and in-laws. But on one fateful trip to the Riviera, Van Drift meets his match in Colonel Clay. Posing alternately as a seer, a curate, and a German professor, the master of disguise swindles Van Drift through three continents and poses a serious risk to his South African diamond fortune. Colonel Clay, the notorious con artist and thief, has triumphed. But who is this master of disguise, really?

First serialized in The Strand in 1896, the adventures that comprise An African Millionaire are widely regarded as the first to feature a criminal protagonist and will be greeted enthusiastically by fans and scholars of classic crime fiction.

From the publisher

Gary Hoppenstand is a professor in the Department of American Thought and Language at Michigan State University. He has researched and published widely in the areas of popular culture and popular fiction studies, and he edited the Penguin Classics editions of Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda/Rupert of Hentzau and A.E.W. Mason's The Four Feathers. He is the past president of the Popular Culture Association, and the current editor of The Journal of Popular Culture.

Details

  • Title An African Millionaire
  • Author Grant Allen; Introduction by Gary Hoppenstand
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reissue
  • Pages 208
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Publishing Group, London
  • Date 2012-02-28
  • Features Bibliography, Price on Product - Canadian, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780143106579 / 0143106570
  • Weight 0.37 lbs (0.17 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.73 x 5.13 x 0.56 in (19.63 x 13.03 x 1.42 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Library of Congress subjects Mystery fiction
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2011045212
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

END

About the author

Grant Allen was born on February 24, 1848 near Kingston, Ontario, in Canada. Though largely forgotten today, during his lifetime he was a prolific and popular writer who published widely in diverse areas, which were as various as his own intellectual pursuits that ranged from the sciences to literature. His best stories, which featured the notorious conartist and thief, Colonel Clay, first appeared in the Strand Magazine and later were collected in the book, An African Millionaire: Episodes in the Life of the Illustrious Colonel Clay (1897), commonly regarded by many critics as the first fictional work to feature a criminal protagonist.

Gary Hoppenstand is a professor of English at Michigan State University and wrote the introduction to Penguin Classics edition of An African Millionaire. He lives in East Lansing, Michigan.

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An African Millionaire: Episodes in the Life of the Illustrious Colonel Clay (Penguin Classics)

An African Millionaire: Episodes in the Life of the Illustrious Colonel Clay (Penguin Classics)

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An African Millionaire

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An African Millionaire: Episodes in the Life of the Illustrious Colonel Clay (Penguin Classics)
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An African Millionaire: Episodes in the Life of the Illustrious Colonel Clay (Penguin Classics)

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An African Millionaire (Penguin Classics)

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Paperback. New. Wealthy, confident and handsome, Charles Van Drift is not accustomed to being swindled and his brush with Colonel Clay both rattles and infuriates him. As his South African diamond fortune takes hit after hit from the quick-witted master of disguise, Van Drift grows more suspicious of those around him.
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