The Unreliable Life of Harry the Valet by Duncan Hamilton

The Unreliable Life of Harry the Valet by Duncan Hamilton

Harry the Valet began his criminal career out of grief, but became Europe's most notorious jewel thief out of love. The story of a real-life Raffles - a man who wore bespoke suits and handmade shoes; who used a dozen pseudonyms to dust over his tracks; who belonged to three smart London clubs and lived in the luxury of West End hotels; whose staple diet was champagne and whisky; who was pursued by London's top detectives for five and a half years and - by their own admission - 'proved smarter' than them; and who fell so much in love with an Gaiety girl, a women who he would steal for and lie for and who would eventually betray him. His daring and well planned theft of the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland's jewels from her train carriage at Paris' Gare du Nord station on October 1898 was one of the most widely reported court cases of the late Victorian era. Harry took more than 40 pieces of jewellery with an approximate value of £30,000 - a sum worth nearly £2m today. But what no one knew at the time was that he had already committed nine almost identical crimes. This amazing story embraces a controversial Duchess, her Knighted husband, who was also a Conservative MP under suspicion for the murder of the Duchess' former husband, an actress and Gaiety 'good time' Girl, the policeman who caught the wife-killer Dr Crippen and Harry himself. The Unreliable Life of Harry the Valet reads like detective fiction, but has romance at its heart - a love story which endured on Harry's part for the rest of his life, despite the treachery that sent him to jail - a love that ultimately destroyed him.

Duncan Hamilton is the author of Provided You Don't Kiss Me: 20 Years with Brian Clough which won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year for 2007. In 2009, he was awarded the William Hill again, for Harold Larwood, as well as winning the prestigious Wisden Book of the Year for 2009 and Biography of the Year at the 2010 British Sports Book Awards. He lives in the Yorkshire Dales.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781846058141
ISBN 10	1846058147
Title	The Unreliable Life of Harry the Valet
Author	Duncan Hamilton
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Cornerstone
Year published	2011-05-05
Number of pages	304
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable