Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief

I picked this up while travelling in Porto, looking for something that would be engaging and not too demanding, in a compact portable format. It was perfect.
The stories are relatively short, but long enough to develop a complex plot and raise questions about the morality of thieves and gentlemen. The language in this original translation is in the dated formal style of the past century, like Conan Doyle, which fits the text.
Set in the bourgeois society of late 19th century France, the stories involve clever mysteries like a Sherlock Holmes story, with the twist of being told from the point of view of the master criminal. Like Holmes, they frequently point to the ineptness of the police forces, but Leblanc adds the issues involving show more people of wealth, power and class. Leblanc makes a point of parody with “Holmlock Shears,” especially in the story “Holmlock Shears Arrives Too Late.”
What’s interesting in these stories is not so much the mystery, but the social circumstances they reveal. Lupin’s motivation seems to arise from the suggestion that he is the son of a mistreated woman and uses theft in order to humiliate the rich who caused his mother’s downfall. He often identifies with the working classes, while taking advantage of his privilege as a wealthy bourgeois. He enjoys showing up the patronizing police. And he shows a strong sense of justice in wanting to help or protect other bourgeois who have been robbed or threatened. While a sense of justice is featured in the Conan Doyle’s Holmes stories, Holmes more often treats his cases as an intellectual puzzle, and, in my recollection, seems to have little awareness for London’s working class.
Arsène Lupin is a dedicated and principled vigilante, especially in defending the honour of women. Leblanc shows him as a human with a nervous heart in the presence of the woman he has fallen for, a curious twist of the psychology of the master thief. In one story, he gives back the items that he has stolen in order that the woman will not think he is a thief. Did Sherlock Holmes ever show affection toward women, aside perhaps from his landlady and the more modern stories that try to correct an evident misogyny?
Lupin toys with a complex moral balance. In one story, he sets a trap for a murderer, which results in Lupin keeping a gem that the murderer stole, executing a tricky moral trade to his benefit. He is a thief, but he steals from people who are worse than he is.
Lupin also uses a distinctive strategy to increase his fame and add to the embarrassment of his victims – he advertises! While Holmes has his Dr Watson, and there seems to be a knowledgeable narrator in Lupin’s stories, Lupin takes the initiative of buying newspaper notices to draw attention to his capers and his victims. Since he’s not looking for a clientele like Holmes, this can only be to show off his superiority and his accomplishments – and occasionally to misdirect attention. As a self-made man, he puts considerable time and effort into creating himself and building his public persona and fame. This desire for attention perhaps also comes from his sense of overcoming an unjust life and challenging the bourgeois morality that surrounds him.
It’s some time since I’ve read Conan Doyle and I certainly have not read all of his stories, so I hope I’m not mischaracterizing his hero. I enjoy reading the Holmes stories, but Leblanc’s “gentleman-thief” stories add some additional layers that make them a bit more satisfying. Overall, this was excellent holiday reading – engaging, convenient and thoughtful. show less

I can see the charm, but I think a brief taste is all that I really needed here before deciding to move on. Lupin is clearly inspired by the stories of Sherlock Holmes, simply flipped to show the expertise going into committing a crime rather than solving one. Lupin is a fun character to read about with his blend of playful and clever antics and I can definitely see why the series garnered such a fanbase.

Though while it was fun, I can still say Sherlock Holmes is the far more enduring of the two works. There’s a novelty in seeing the Holmesian playbook turned around to committing crimes but it also feels unsatisfying at times with the mix of grandiose ruses and subtle misdirection never feeling quite as natural as Holmes’ analysis show more of a weird but largely grounded crime. The hand of the author is much more visible, lining up the police to fall for the ruse exactly as Lupin intended and, while that's a feature of all stories to some extent, it's much harder to hide when Lupin’s actions are meant to predict rather than explain.

Further, the shift in how the stories approach Lupin’s character also hurts the overall feel of the narrative. I understand this is to be expected to some extent with an anthology work but Lupin’s shift from criminal to independent sleuth, while perhaps bringing him more in line with the Holmesian structure, feels like it weakened the unique characteristics that made Lupin stand out in the first place and were probably the weakest aspect of the collection.

Ultimately I had a fun time reading this and while it was nice to see firsthand another branch of the mystery genre I don’t think it's one I care much to go down any further. show less

4.5/5

“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….”

Admittedly, the first time I heard of Arsene Lupin was when the character and his adventures were referenced in the Netflix show Lupin. 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. 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. As Lupin’s show more “historiographer”(who also serves as narrator for some of the stories) states,

“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.”

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. 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 enjoyed most of the stories and my personal favorites were ”The Escape of Arsene Lupin”, “The Seven of Hearts” and “Madam Imbert’s Safe”. In addition to these stories, I must mention the final story in this collection in which we see our "gentleman thief" pitted against a ‘great English detective’!

Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Thief by Maurice Leblanc (edited by Mike Kennedy) is truly an enjoyable read! The illustrations (both black-and-white and full-color) by Vincent Mallié are absolutely wonderful and perfectly complement the narrative which flows smoothly.(The illustrations reminded me of Herge's Tintin books which I still love to read!) Fans of Sherlock Holmes would definitely enjoy these stories.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Diamond Book Distributors for the digital review copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. show less

This was published in the late 19th Century introducing Arsène Lupin who is more or less the French answer to Sherlock Holmes, whom he meets in the final chapter of this book. Lupin is a thief but a very refined one. I can't help but be reminded of Cary Grant in Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief. Grant, of course is the epitome of a gentleman and Arsène Lupin is no different. He charms everyone he meets, most of whom do not know he is a thief and that he will likely steal their jewels/furniture/paintings/etc. in the night. His thefts leave the police baffled, for he leaves no trace. Therefore, it can be assumed that if a theft has no evidence, that theft was likely committed by Lupin. He has one real adversary, Detective Ganimard, who show more arrests Lupin in the first chapter and later becomes quite good friends with him.

As stated, in the final chapter, Lupin meets Sherlock Holmes, who naturally recognizes an intellect on par with his own. Holmes does not apprehend the thief (for Holmes is indeed too late, as the title of the chapter states), but he suspects their paths will cross again. I understand that is exactly what happens in the sequel but never again afterward due to copyright issues.

The book is very episodic with just a thread of plot that carries through each chapter. The reason for this is that each chapter was originally published as a short story in the French magazine Je Sais Tout. I listened to an audiobook through Librivox which had a different reader for each chapter. I had to smile at the variations in pronunciations of French words and names (not that I'd do any better). I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will most likely be looking for others in the series. He is a character that one cannot help but love, for who doesn't like a story about a sophisticated criminal? show less

This supposed gentlemen thief is very much like the evil version of Sherlock Holmes. These stories like the Holmes ones are about the puzzle not about the character.
A suspiciously high number of these stories try to make Lupin look like a hero but he's still not as likable as his british equivalent Raffles. That's because he is so overpowered, it seems as if he robs simply because he likes too without even any financial motive. Raffles is drawn as a much meaner character but still comes across as more likable because his motives are easier to understand.
The two things which make this book good are the structure and method. We get some of Lupin's earlier exploits later in the book and this non-chronological story structure works very show more well. The best element though is the method used by Lupin in his robberies, which often rely heavily on psychology, and its this exploitation of human behavior which is the most interesting thing in the book. In fact calling Lupin a burglar seems inappropriate he's far more of a con-man. show less

A collection of nine short stories featuring the “gentleman thief”, Arsène Lupin, a character created by French writer Maurice Leblanc in 1905.

I have never read any Arsène Lupin story, though I have heard of this character. It was intriguing for me to discover a classic story series set around a thief rather than a detective à la Poirot. Moreover, this series is known for being set in a similar style to the Sherlock Holmes stories, and for even making references to Holmes multiple times. As I am not an avid reader of detective fiction, I thought this “graphic novel” would make for a quicker glimpse into a classic character. All of this made me pick this book up. Some of my expectations were met, not all.

First things first. show more This is not a graphic novel but an illustrated collection. The illustrations are in black and white as well as in colour, and suit the scenes well. I loved the quirkiness of the characters in the drawings. At the same time, the USP of this book is the fact that it has illustrations. (After all, Arsène Lupin stories have been in the public domain for ages, free for all to read.) So are you the kind of reader who would love to invest in an illustrated novel, mainly for the sketches? This collection is for you. If you are more of a story person and don’t bother about looking at the accompanying drawings, no point purchasing this. As I said, I had assumed this to be a graphic novel, so I was really disappointed to see that I had to read through so much text in a genre I don’t even prefer.

Furthermore, Maurice Leblanc himself pitted his character against Sherlock Holmes. So it is inevitable to make comparisons between the two characters. Other than the fact that they are on opposite sides of the law, Lupin and Holmes have quite a few characteristics in common. (Though Lupin is way more affable!) The writing style is also reminiscent of Doyle’s. But Holmes is Holmes and you will be better off not making the comparison. Of course, you can’t escape it in one story. In the short story "Sherlock Holmes Arrives Too Late", Leblanc introduces an aged Holmes to a young Lupin. After Arthur Conan Doyle rightfully objected, Leblanc changed the name of his detective character with a deliberate spoonerism to “Herlock Sholmes.” This story is a part of this collection, and one of the best ones.

I enjoyed the difference in perspective. While classic detective fiction is usually all about the detective, this one focuses on the thief/the criminal, so it feels like a novel approach. However, Dr. Watson, who pens the Holmes adventures from his perspective as his assistant, is an excellent and consistent narrator. The main flaw in the Lupin stories is that there is no good narrator to carry them through. Some of the stories are in third person, others are in first person. Even the first person narratives are sometimes those of Lupin, sometimes someone else, and sometimes Lupin pretending to be someone else. The constant shift in perspective is tedious.

Of the nine stories, three reached/crossed the four star mark for me.
The arrest of Arsène Lupin – the story that introduces Lupin - show less

I had heard of Maurice Leblanc’s Arsene Lupin novels but, for some reason, I had never read one so when I saw this book available on Edelweiss+, I jumped at the chance to remedy that oversight. I am so glad I did. Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Thief gathers together the first novellas in the series and what a fun read it is. Lupin is an extremely charming and likeable character, a thief with principles and the tales were full of twists and turns and red herrings enough to fill an ocean. And added bonus - the gorgeous.illustrations by Vincent Mallie, both black and white and coloured complemented the stories beautifully. Loved it!