Additional information
by Grant Allen (Author), Gary Hoppenstand (Introduction by)
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.
Author Biography
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.
