I enjoyed most of the stories and my personal favorites were ”The Escape of Arsene Lupin”, “The Seven of Hearts” and “Madam Imbert’s Safe”.
It is difficult to individually describe these stories without giving too much away but the narrative follows Lupin as he is arrested, escapes from prison and proceeds to con multiple victims (and is also duped by one of his marks in one rare instance) all the while evading capture by the authorities. I had so much fun reading about Lupin and his numerous disguises, his creative methods of committing crimes and his besting the shrewd Detective Ganimard at every opportunity he gets. “His portrait? How could I describe him? Twenty times I have seen Arsene Lupin, and twenty times a different person has appeared to me …or rather, the same person from which twenty mirrors would have returned as many distorted images, each one having its own particular look, its own unique shape, its own gesture, its own silhouette and character.” As Lupin’s “historiographer”(who also serves as narrator for some of the stories) states, Originally written in 1907, by author Maurice Leblanc, these are straightforward mysteries/adventures with intriguing plots, loads of humor and a very interesting main character. This collection covers nine interrelated stories (though they are just as good as standalone) revolving around the “gentleman thief” and his exploits and is a perfect introduction for new readers like me. “Arsene Lupin, the man of a thousand disguises: in turn a chauffeur, a tenor, a bookmaker, a young boy a teen, an old man, a commercial traveler, a Russian physician, a Spanish bullfighter….”Īdmittedly, the first time I heard of Arsene Lupin was when the character and his adventures were referenced in the Netflix show Lupin.
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