Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Thief

Created by Maurice LeBlanc during the early twentieth century, Arsène 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 Arsène Lupin'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" or books such as "The Scarlet Pimpernel." Sparkling with amusing banter, these stories-the best of the Lupin series-are outrageous, melodramatic, and literate. Arsène Lupin is definitely more dashing than Sherlock Holmes, and the Maurice LeBlanc stories are more psychologically or "humanly" involved. Arsene Lupin is everything you would expect from a French aristocrat -- witty, charming, brilliant, sly . . . and possibly the greatest thief in the world. In this classic tale, Lupin comes up against the only man who may be able to stop him . . . no less than the great British gentleman-detective Herlock Sholmes (a semi-parody on Sherlock Holmes, of course)! A gentleman master thief, Arsene Lupin is one of France's most famous fictional characters, the sort of anti-hero who uses his brains and charm to escape from any situation the police may put him in. Maurice LeBlanc's adventure stories, which may have been overlooked because they weren't originally written in English, are fast paced, fascinating, and superbly clever.