The inspiration behind the smash hit Netflix original series Lupin!

"On examination, it was proved, first, that young Isidore Beautrelet had administered a sleeping draught to the village policeman; secondly, that he could only have escaped by a window situated at a height of seven or eight feet in the wall; and lastly—a charming detail, this—that he could only have reached this window by using the back of his warder as a footstool."

Maurice Leblanc's first full-length work featuring France's famous felon shows Arsène Lupin for what he truly is. A dangerous master criminal bent on surviving at all costs hides behind the charismatic façade of the gentleman-thief. The Hollow Needle introduces a new nemesis for Arsène Lupin, and a love interest that might make him give up his life of crime once and for all.

A royal treasure trove, its secrets passed down from the time of Julius Caesar, is Arsène Lupin's latest target. Pursued relentlessly by a new adversary—seventeen-year-old student Isidore Beautrelet—Lupin must use every skill in his arsenal to solve the mystery of the Hollow Needle before he is captured.

Kobo Editions offers this fully-accessible version of the original text for your enjoyment.