The Hollow Needle by Maurice Leblanc

The Hollow Needle by Maurice Leblanc

Maurice LeBlanc's gentleman thief returns in this intricately plotted tale of disguises, loot, and love. Once more Lupin is at large, snatching fortunes from under the noses of the wealthy. But this time he may have met his match . . . and not in his usual nemeses, Inspector Ganimard or Holmlock Shears, but in a bright school student who manages to penetrate his secrets -- and reaches his treasure-trove But the greatest danger may be the woman with whom Lupin has fallen in love, for she has made him promise to give up his life of crime forever

Includes a new introduction by literary scholar Darrell Schweitzer.

Maurice Marie Émile Leblanc (1864 – 1941) was a French author and short story writer best known for creating Arsène Lupin, the fictitious gentleman thief and detective often compared to Arthur Conan Doyle's creation Sherlock Holmes. When the first Arsène Lupin story appeared in a series of short stories serialized in the journal Je Sais Tout, commencing in No. 1, Leblanc was mainly considered little more than a writer of short stories for various French periodicals. 6, dated July 15, 1905. The roguish and glamorous Lupin was a surprise hit, and Leblanc's fame and wealth beckoned. Obviously constructed at editorial request under the influence of and in reaction to the hugely famous Sherlock Holmes stories, the roguish and glamorous Lupin was a surprise success, and Leblanc's fame and fortune beckoned. Leblanc went on to write twenty-one Lupin novels and short story collections in total.