Arsène Lupin

Arsène Lupin (1909) is a novel by Maurice Leblanc. Originally a four-act play, the story was turned into a novel by Leblanc before being translated into English by Edgar Jepson. Partly based on the life of French anarchist Marius Jacob, Arsène Lupin first appeared in print in 1905 as an answer to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. Blending crime fiction, fantasy, and mystery, Leblanc crafts original and entertaining tales of adventure starring one of the greatest literary characters of all time―Arsène Lupin, gentleman thief. Arsène Lupin is the world’s greatest thief, an unmatched force for good whose exploits threaten the wealth and standing of France’s most wicked men. In this early installment of Leblanc’s beloved series, Lupin uses his remarkable wit and chameleon-like ability to move undetected through aristocratic society in order to steal, trick, and cheat his way through life. Despite his criminal nature, he operates under a strict moral code, only taking from those who have taken from the poor all their lives. In this novel, he comes up with an elaborate plan to get his hands on the art and jewels of a notorious collector, a man whose taste for fine objects can only be satisfied through exploitation and greed. As though the risks involved were not high enough, Lupin leave clues for police every step of the way, heightening pressure on himself and embarrassing a nation’s incompetent leaders in the process. Arsène Lupin is a story of romance, mystery, and crime that continues to astound over a century after it was published.

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