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    The Confessions of Arsène Lupin
    The Confessions of Arsène Lupin
    The Confessions of Arsène Lupin
    Ebook366 pages5 hours

    The Confessions of Arsène Lupin

    By Otto Penzler and Maurice Leblanc

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    The world’s premier thief—inspiration for the hit show Lupin—looks back on a lifetime of adventure in these tales of his outrageous exploits.

    It has been a fortnight since the baroness Repstein disappeared from Paris, taking with her a fortune in jewels stolen from her husband. French detectives have chased her all over Europe, following the trail of gemstones like so many precious breadcrumbs, but she has eluded their efforts. When Arsène Lupin finds her, she will not escape so easily.
     
    The most brilliant criminal mind in all of Europe, Lupin is not above performing the occasional good deed—especially when there is reward money at stake. In these thrilling stories, the gentleman thief outwits both policemen and criminals time and time again, always making sure to pocket something for himself.
     
    This ebook features a new introduction by Otto Penzler and has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMysteriousPress.com Open Road
    Release dateOct 28, 2014
    ISBN9781497679405
    Author

    Otto Penzler

    OTTO PENZLER is a renowned mystery editor, publisher, columnist, and owner of New York’s The Mysterious Bookshop, the oldest and largest bookstore solely dedicated to mystery fiction. He has edited more than fifty crime-fiction anthologies. He lives in New York.

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    Reviews for The Confessions of Arsène Lupin

    4/5

    16 ratings13 reviews

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    • 5/5
      A series of exploits told by the gentleman burglar himself (and then retold via the narrator/his friend), in which he pulls off impressive thefts in cool disguises, cleverly eludes the coppers at every turn, and charms the heck out of everyone around him. Think Sherlock Holmes, but on the other side of the crime, and French. In other words, this one was a hoot. Definitely recommended.
    • 4/5
      Amusing. Good to procrastinate cleaning rooms.
    • 3/5
      A rakish anti-Holmes.
    • 4/5
      This was a great read. A funny mystery story where the protagonist is actually the bad guy. I loved the Holmlock Shears joke. Everytime I read that name I laughed out loud.
    • 3/5
      The infamous thief Arsene Lupin is a sort of Scarlet Pimpernel crossed with Moriarty. It's a short, fast-paced detective story told from the investigator's perspective. Unfortunately, Lupin's identity is clear very early in the book, and the investigating is of the most rudimentry sort. Eventually we meet Lupin's gang, who I like best of everyone in the book, and the love interest, who I don't like at all.
    • 3/5
      Hello? Is anybody here? Anybody?

      Wow.

      Okay so now I'm thinking, what's the point of leaving a review? None, I guess. But then I do have the place all to myself, nice! Man, I'm going back here whenever I need a break. It's so quiet, I almost hate to leave...
    • 4/5
      I am a great fan of the Lupin III series by Monkey Punch, wherein the titular character claims to be the grandson of the famous French thief, so I'm really not sure why it took me so long to read the original work. And I must say, I was not disappointed with it. Arsene Lupin, as the title suggests, is a gentleman-thief. Which is to say, a thief, yes, but always a gentleman first. He is unfailingly polite, sophisticated, and worldly. His intellect is often placed on a level with Sherlock Holmes, which seems a fair comparison (they also share the traits of being fictional characters published in popular serials around the same time period, so I guess that dapper intellectuals were something of a craze at the time). However, where Holmes' defining trait is his cold, analytical personality, Lupin has a decidedly more emotional bent. In the very first chapter he falls in love with a young woman on a transatlantic cruise, and when he meets her again several chapters later during a robbery, he is so upset by her seeing him in the role of a thief that he promises to return everything he has taken from the house. Overall, I found these stories very enjoyable, and would recommend this collection to anyone who enjoys turn-of-the-century literature or the Sherlock Holmes series.
    • 4/5
      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 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?

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A highly entertaining introduction to Arsene Lupin. My only complaint with this particular translated edition is that it does not appear to have been edited... there are some embarrassing typos and other errors throughout the text. Still, quite a fun read.
    • 4/5
      This one was lots of fun. It makes an interesting comparison with Raffles. This one was more fun to me as I found Lupin a more likable character than Raffles. Not always believable, but still great fun. My favorite story was "The Queen's Necklace." I liked the introduction of Sherlock Holmes. Looking forward to reading more.
    • 4/5
      A much loved childhood series. My parents apparently did not quite approve of the "gentleman thief." While they lined my bookshelf with the many adventures of Sherlock Holmes, I never received a single volume of Arsene Lupin. To get my fix, I had to have to live off the kindness of classmates, wolfing down chapters during recess and lunch periods. On occasions, I'd smuggle the illicit material home; reading under the threat of discovery made the experience all the more thrilling.My fixation may well have been spurred in resistance to parental control, but to my nine-year old eyes, Lupin was infinitely more suave and charming than the eccentric and not always likable Holmes. All the more pity it was then, to re-encounter the stories years later, post-college. Leblanc lacked Doyle's gift with constructing clever logic puzzles and making keen observations. Lupin's theatrics therefore came across as merely superficial, and the plot felt more contrived.Still. First love dies hard. So, 4 stars for old time's sake.
    • 4/5
      Each of the independent stories hinges on a delightfully concocted rocambolesque chaining of events. Light and fun. I only regret having got acquainted to M. Lupin so late in life!
    • 4/5
      I have a real fondness for wacky caper fiction, and the adventures of Arsene Lupin definitely do not disappoint. Lupin is a complicated, gallantly roguish gentleman theif who is willing to go to extreme lengths to win his quarry. The book is grouped into half a dozen separate tales, in which he finds love, tangles with two cunning detectives (including Sherlock Holmes!), escapes from prison, and solves murders.This is an absolute must read for those who love a good detective tale. In the public domain -- available at Project Gutenberg and DailyLit.

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    The Confessions of Arsène Lupin - Otto Penzler

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