Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief

278 pages

English language

Published Aug. 8, 2007 by Penguin Books.

ISBN:
978-0-14-310486-5
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3 stars (3 reviews)

The suave adventures of a gentleman rogue—a French Thomas Crown

Created by Maurice LeBlanc during the early twentieth century, Arsene Lupin is a witty confidence man and burglar, the Sherlock Holmes of crime. The poor and innocent have nothing to fear from him; often they profit from his spontaneous generosity. The rich and powerful, and the detective who tries to spoil his fun, however, must beware. They are the target of Arsene’s mischief and tomfoolery. A masterful thief, his plans frequently evolve into elaborate capers, a precursor to such cinematic creations as Ocean’s Eleven and The Sting. Sparkling with amusing banter, these stories—the best of the Lupin series—are outrageous, melodramatic, and literate.

1 edition

An Early Gentleman Thief, and an Inspiration of Many that Followed

3 stars

Arsène Lupin is a gentleman burglar character first introduced in short stories by Maurice Leblanc that were published by the French magazine "Je sais tout" in 1905. The first nine stories are collected in this book, published in 1907. This book is in the public domain, so you can find it online for free. (I recommend Standard Ebooks, but you can also get it at Project Gutenberg.)

The Arsène Lupin stories were so popular that Leblanc continued writing more Lupin stories until 1939 (shortly before his death in 1941). Leblanc published a total of 24 books in the series.

The character has been adapted to movies, TV shows, stage shows, comic books, and video games. It has also inspired other characters. The most famous of these is the manga/anime character Lupin III, whom its creator (Kazuhiko Katō) describes as Arsène Lupin's grandson.

This book holds up fairly well. Some of …

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