Gentleman thief and detective Arsène Lupin conspires to match wits with the great Victorian detective Sherlock Holmes in Maurice Leblanc’s second collection of short stories. Brilliantly capturing each character's extraordinary skills, Leblanc offers readers an array of entertaining adventures. The eight tales include “Lottery Ticket No. 514,” “Sherlock Holmes Opens Hostilities,” “Second Arrest of Arsène Lupin,” “The Jewish Lamp,” and others. Mystery lovers will find Lupin and Holmes the most cunning duo in crime fiction.
Maurice Leblanc (1864-1941) was a French novelist and writer of short stories, known primarily as the creator of the fictional gentleman thief and detective Arsene Lupin, often described as a French counterpart to Conan Doyle's creation Sherlock Holmes.
"The Blonde Lady" sees Arsène Lupin (the gentleman-burglar) once again meeting his enemy, the English detective Herlock Sholmes. These two great intellects are bound in opposite directions, where one chooses to abide to the law and the other uses his power and wits to crime. This early work by Maurice Leblanc was originally published in 1908 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. Maurice Marie Émile Leblanc was born on 11th November 1864 in Rouen, Normandy, France. He was a novelist and writer of short stories, known primarily as the creator of the fictional gentleman thief and detective, Arsène Lupin. Leblanc spent his early education at the Lycée Pierre Corneille (in Rouen), and after studying in several countries and dropping out of law school, he settled in Paris and began to write fiction. From the start, Leblanc wrote both short crime stories and longer novels - and his lengthier tomes, heavily influenced by writers such as Flaubert and Maupassant, were critically admired, but met with little commercial success. Leblanc was largely considered little more than a writer of short stories for various French periodicals when the first Arsène Lupin story appeared. It was published as a series of stories in the magazine 'Je Sais Trout', starting on 15th July, 1905. Clearly created at editorial request under the influence of, and in reaction to, the wildly successful Sherlock Holmes stories, the roguish and glamorous Lupin was a surprise success and Leblanc's fame and fortune beckoned. In total, Leblanc went on to write twenty-one Lupin novels or collections of short stories. On this success, he later moved to a beautiful country-side retreat in Étreat (in the Haute-Normandie region in north-western France), which today is a museum dedicated to the Arsène Lupin books. Leblanc was awarded the Légion d'Honneur - the highest decoration in France - for his services to literature. He died in Perpignan (the capital of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France) on 6th November 1941, at the age of seventy-six. He is buried in the prestigious Montparnasse Cemetery of Paris.
DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Blonde Lady" (Being a Record of the Duel of Wits between Arsène Lupin and the English Detective) by Maurice Leblanc. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.
The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar By Maurice Leblanc Maurice Leblanc, a contemporary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, created the character of Arsène Lupin, who in French-speaking countries rivaled the popularity of Sherlock Holmes. Arsène Lupin is a confidence man and thief who steals only from the rich. In this collection of short stories we are first introduced to Lupin in the following nine stories: "The Arrest of Arsène Lupin," "Arsène Lupin in Prison," "The Escape of Arsène Lupin," "The Mysterious Traveller," "The Queen's Necklace," "The Seven of Hearts," "Madame Imbert's Safe," "The Black Pearl," and "Sherlock Holmes Arrives Too Late."
In this pulse-pounding murder mystery from Arsene Lupin creator Maurice Leblanc, a chance encounter irrevocably alters the course of one man's life, and the early twentieth-century tensions between France and Germany boil over. Although the original edition of the mystery does not include an appearance from super-thief Lupin, later editions were revised to include him.
INDEX FOREWORD CHAPTER I THE DESERTED CABIN CHAPTER II ON THE EDGE OF THE ATLANTIC CHAPTER III VORSKI'S SON CHAPTER IV THE POOR PEOPLE OF SAREK CHAPTER V "FOUR WOMEN CRUCIFIED" CHAPTER VI ALL'S WELL CHAPTER VII FRANÇOIS AND STÉPHANE CHAPTER VIII ANGUISH CHAPTER IX THE DEATH-CHAMBER CHAPTER X THE ESCAPE CHAPTER XI THE SCOURGE OF GOD CHAPTER XII THE ASCENT OF GOLGOTHA CHAPTER XIII "ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!" CHAPTER XIV THE ANCIENT DRUID CHAPTER XV THE HALL OF THE UNDERGROUND SACRIFICES CHAPTER XVI THE HALL OF THE KINGS OF BOHEMIA CHAPTER XVII "CRUEL PRINCE, OBEYING DESTINY" CHAPTER XVIII THE GOD-STONE
