The Arsène Lupin Omnibus: The first four works

The inspiration behind the smash-hit Netflix series! This omnibus [ISBN: 9789350097397 ] collects the first four works including "Arsène Lupin, Gentleman- Burglar"; "Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmès"; "The Hollow Needle: Further adventures of Arsène Lupin" and bonus novel *Arsène Lupin* (from a M. Leblanc's theater play novelized by Edgar Jepson).
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(*) Arsène Lupin — Originally a 4-part play written in 1908 by Maurice Leblanc and Francis de Croisset. Subsequently translated into English and novelized by Edgar Jepson. Published in 1909 by Doubleday as 'Arsène Lupin' by Edgar Jepson.
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Arsène Lupin is a fictional gentleman-thief and master of disguise created in 1904-1905 by French writer Maurice Leblanc and first introduced in a series of short stories serialized in the Pierre Laffitte's french magazine "Je sais tout".

"Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar" (AKA Arsène Lupin, gentleman-cambrioleur) is the first collection of stories by Maurice Leblanc recounting the adventures of Arsène Lupin, released on 10 June 1907. Containing the first nine stories depicting the character, each was first published in the 'Je sais tout magazine'.

The first story, 'The Arrest of Arsène Lupin', was published in the french magazine on 15 July 1905: '(...) It was a strange ending to a voyage that had commenced in a most auspicious manner. The transatlantic steamship `La Provence' was a swift and comfortable vessel, under the command of a most affable man. The passengers constituted a select and delightful society. The charm of new acquaintances and improvised amusements served to make the time pass agreeably. We enjoyed the pleasant sensation of being separated from the world, living, as it were, upon an unknown island, and consequently obliged to be sociable with each other.

Have you ever stopped to consider how much originality and spontaneity emanate from these various individuals who, on the preceding evening, did not even know each other, and who are now, for several days, condemned to lead a life of extreme intimacy, jointly defying the anger of the ocean, the terrible onslaught of the waves, the violence of the tempest and the agonizing monotony of the calm and sleepy water? Such a life becomes a sort of tragic existence, with its storms and its grandeurs, its monotony and its diversity; and that is why, perhaps, we embark upon that short voyage with mingled feelings of pleasure and fear.'

The ninth story in this collection features English detective Sherlock Holmes, changed in subsequent publications to "Herlock Sholmès" after protests from Arthur Conan Doyle's french lawyers... This match of wits continues in the second collection of stories, Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes. In The Hollow Needle, Arsène Lupin is opposed by Isidore Beautrelet, a young but gifted amateur detective, who is still in high school but who is poised to give Arsène Lupin a big headache. In the Arsène Lupin universe, the Hollow Needle is the second secret of Marie Antoinette and Alessandro Cagliostro, the hidden fortune of the Kings of France, as revealed to Arsène Lupin by Josephine Balsamo in the novel The Countess of Cagliostro (1924). The Mystery of the Hollow Needle hides a secret that the Kings of France have been handing down since the time of Julius Caesar... and now Arsène Lupin has mastered it. The legendary needle contains the most fabulous treasure ever imagined, a collection of queens' dowries, pearls, rubies, sapphires and diamonds... the fortune of the Kings of France!

Aventura / Contos / Crime / Crônicas / Drama / Entretenimento / Ficção / História / Infantojuvenil / Jovem adulto / Literatura Estrangeira / Política / Romance policial / Suspense e Mistério