Lord Lister No. 0345: De bankroovers

About this book

"Lord Lister No. 0345: De bankroovers" by Matull, Blankensee, and Hageman is a pulp crime-adventure novella written in the early 20th century. The tale pits gentleman-thief Lord William Aberdeen—alias John Raffles, the Great Unknown—and his loyal aide Charly Brand against a covert gang tunneling under London toward a major bank. Expect secret laboratories, ingenious gadgets, and a high-stakes duel of wits in the city’s underworld.

The opening of this novella shows Raffles’s hidden garden pavilion concealing a subterranean lab and a long private tunnel, whose electrics he and Charly repair after a nearby explosion. Deep below ground they hear a growing mechanical rumble, suspect a new tunnel cutting toward theirs, and fail to find any official works above—until a suspicious “print shop” with a fake setup and a motor belt catches Raffles’s eye. Leaving their chauffeur Henderson to guard the tunnel, they rush back when the rival diggers punch through; Henderson kills the lights and braces the breach with heavy steel plates. That night Raffles and Charly infiltrate the print shop via a schoolyard, fall into a rigged collapsing stairway, are captured, and face the shop’s true master—the Lynx—who reveals their trap and hints at the gang’s target: the Midland Bank.