Arsene Lupin: The Collected Stories

First appearing in 1905, Arsène Lupin is the most famous fictional character of French writer Maurice Leblanc. Gentleman thief and master of disguise Arsène Lupin is a character who often operates as a force for justice but on the wrong side of the law. Similar to Pierre Alexis Ponson du Terrail’s fictional character Rocambole and to E. W. Hornung’s gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, Arsène Lupin has been described as an inversion of Sherlock Holmes. This is somewhat ironic as Sherlock Holmes appears in one of Leblanc’s early Lupin stories, an appearance which drew legal scrutiny from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In subsequent appearances Leblanc changed the name of the Sherlock Holmes character to Herlock Sholmes to avoid legal copyright action on the part of Doyle. Those stories are included in this collection which collects thirty-five of Leblanc’s early Lupin short stories. The stories included in this volume include all the short stories contained in the following collections: “The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar”, “Arsène Lupin Versus Herlock Sholmes”, “The Confessions of Arsène Lupin”, and “The Eight Strokes of the Clock”. One of the most popular characters of turn of the century French literature, Arsène Lupin’s literary legacy is excellently represented in this collection of his most famous stories.