# Lord Thornaby — A Thief in the Night character guide

> Lord Thornaby in A Thief in the Night by E. W. Hornung.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Thornaby

**First appearance:** 0001-the-chest-of-silver

## Snapshot

A bachelor peer with the brow of a demigod and the jowl of a bulldog, famed for reading everything and writing nothing.

## Who they are

Lord Thornaby presides over a dinner of criminologists and guests, a host whose European reputation rests on theory rather than practice. He has never married, never spoken in the Lords, and never allowed his photograph to be published, yet he is said to have the best brain in the Upper House. His invitation to Raffles — as suspected criminal rather than cricketer — turns a polite dinner into a quiet trap, and sets the early arc's central test of nerve.

## In the story

### [The Criminologists' Club](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_thief_in_the_night_se/chapters/the-criminologists-club)

The host of the Criminologists' Club dinner and victim of the burglary; described as a knowledgeable but inactive man.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_thief_in_the_night_se/characters/thornaby
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_thief_in_the_night_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_thief_in_the_night_se/characters