Valerie Book Valkyrie’s Reviews > A Gentleman and a Thief: The Daring Jewel Heists of a Jazz Age Rogue > Status Update

Kudos to Lewis Lawes,Warden of Sing Sing Prison 1920-1941 & a proponent of prison reform, when Barry was incarcerated in 1927.
"Treat a man like a dog & you will make a dog of him. Brute force never reformed any man."pg223
Lawes instituted such reforms as the establishment of theatricals,film showings, & athletics; installation of workshop safety devices;provision of radio earphones for each cell; &beautiful gardens.

Every time Barry climbed a porch or placed a ladder under a 2nd story window, he was taking a gamble. Not only betting he would not get caught-he was rolling the dice & hoping he would make it out alive.
"My philosophy was to live hard and enjoy the day. The next time I entered a house, there was a chance that a blast of gunfire in the darkness would blow my head off and end the whole adventure."
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ⋆˚౨ৎ ⋆.˚

Our roaring twenties Gentleman Thief was an American Raffles of a sort. Raffles-gentleman of leisure by day, safecracking jewel thief by night-was the creation of British author William Hornung.The stories, published in major magazines & collected into 3 volumes between 1898 &1905, were wildly popular on both sides of the Atlantic.
These stories sound like splendid little reads!
I'll be looking into them✧｡٩(ˊᗜˋ )و✧*.

A captivating True-Crime caper! (╭ರ_•́) 💍💸
This is the March 2026 True-Crime BOTM with the group Crime, Mysteries & Thrillers. Nominated by, non-other, yes you guessed it, that'd be moi - I'll be facilitating the discussion!

Would really love for you to grab a copy and join us here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...