My book of the moment has been Maurice LeBlanc's Arsène Lupin: Gentleman-Thief. Written in 1907 by Maurice LeBlanc (he of the moustache below), the stories were largely a response to A. Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, with the twist being that Lupin operated on the opposite side of the law. In fact Holmes appeared (without any respect to copyright) in an unfavorable light in a number of Lupin stories.


My wife read the book before I did and told me they were great fun. And I have to reinforce that by saying the stories are absolutely delightful: madcap, urbane, and playful. There's suspense, action, occasional philosophical asides, and an approach to what are now everyday objects (phones, automobiles, and airplanes) but at the time were the latest in technology. When Lupin races a train in his 35 horse-power roadster, it's this white-knuckle race.

And for you manga/anime fans, Lupin III is the grandson of Arsène Lupin. Monkey Punch freely used characters, plot lines from the LeBlanc books and set up his hero as a direct descendant. My version has been the Penguin Classics edition. Project Gutenberg has some as well.

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