Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief

(by Maurice Leblanc, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos)

In his introduction to this edition, Michael Sims calls Arsène Lupin “the most entertaining felon in literature,” and I was definitely entertained by the thirteen stories in this volume—though I think I liked the final three “Prince Rénine” stories the most of all. Still, there are great moments in just about every one of these stories, which (mostly) follow the thieving exploits of the title character, though towards the end he gets into the habit of solving crimes as well. Lupin is described as a “fastidious gentleman who confines his operations to country-houses and fashionable drawing rooms”; in the first story, we hear about him leaving his calling card in one rich guy’s house with a note reading “Will return when your things are genuine,” which definitely made me laugh.

Over the course of this book we see Lupin committing theft on a transatlantic voyage and then coordinating another theft from prison; we hear about his escape from prison and a subsequent eventful train journey. There’s a story about a famous necklace and another about a woman whose husband wrongly accuses her of cheating; there’s a story in which Sherlock Holmes has a cameo. There are a few stories about murders (which Lupin is solving, not doing) and one about stolen tapestries. As previously mentioned, my favorites were probably the final three of the book, which blend romance (which was kinda cringe but I was willing to suspend my modern sensibilities) with mystery/adventure: I felt like the writing in those was the best, or maybe just the most aligned with my sensibilities, with some pleasing descriptions of mysterious boarded-up country house in one story and the coast of Normandy in another.