Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar

Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar is a short story collection by the French writer Maurice Leblanc, published in 1907 under the French title Arsene Lupin, gentleman-cambrioleur, gathering nine stories that had first appeared serially in the magazine Je sais tout beginning in 1905. The collection introduces Arsene Lupin, a gentleman thief and master of disguise whose elegant, often playful crimes and repeated outwitting of police and rivals, including a version of Sherlock Holmes renamed Herlock Sholmes in later stories, made him popular as a criminal counterpart to Conan Doyle's detective. The book has been published in English under varying titles, including The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin and Exploits of Arsene Lupin, and its success launched an extensive series of further novels and stories that Leblanc continued writing for decades, along with a long afterlife in stage, film and television adaptations.