Lupin was the creation of French author Maurice Leblanc, and the nine stories in this collection were the introduction of the 'gentleman-thief' Arsène Lupin to an audience who immediately called out for more. How can we describe these stories? Simply by saying that Lupin may be a rogue, a Robin Hood, but he is certainly no villain. He is a master of disguise and without doubt the most accomplished thief ever to inhabit the pages of crime fiction. Lupin stories are sheer, unadulterated entertainment. The character has recently been reborn in a Netflix series which was inspired by these original publications. The creator of Arsène Lupin, Maurice Leblanc, was born in Rouen in 1864. At the request of a Paris magazine, Je Sais Tout, he began a series of stories featuring the character Lupin, a 'gentleman thief', which appeared in this publication, starting in 1907. The blueprint for this new magazine was England's Strand Magazine in which Conan Doyle had first introduced his character Sherlock Holmes. In 1919 Agatha Christie reportedly considered basing her first detective on Lupin. Jean Cocteau wrote about the stories in his diaries, Sartre described Lupin as "the Cyrano of the underworld." Even T. S. Eliot was an avid reader of Lupin stories. The translation by Texeira da Matos is immaculate and reads as effortlessly today as it would have done in 1907 when this collection was first published. The book comprises 9 stories: THE ARREST OF ARSENE LUPIN ARSENE LUPIN IN PRISON THE ESCAPE OF ARSENE LUPIN THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER THE QUEEN'S NECKLACE THE SEVEN OF HEARTS MADAME IMBERT'S SAFE THE BLACK PEARL SHERLOCK HOLMES ARRIVES TOO LATE
