Arsene Lupin Versus Herlock Sholmes

Publisher Marketing: This early work by Maurice Leblanc was originally published in English in 1910 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. Arsene Lupin vs. Herlock Sholmes is a collection of two adventures which feature a match of wits between Lupin and Herlock Sholmes, a transparent reference to Sherlock Holmes, the hero of Conan Doyle's detective stories. Maurice Marie Emile Leblanc was born on 11th November 1864 in Rouen, Normandy, France. He was a novelist and writer of short stories, known primarily as the creator of the fictional gentleman thief and detective, Arsene Lupin. Leblanc spent his early education at the Lycee Pierre Corneille (in Rouen), and after studying in several countries and dropping out of law school, he settled in Paris and began to write fiction. From the start, Leblanc wrote both short crime stories and longer novels - and his lengthier tomes, heavily influenced by writers such as Flaubert and Maupassant, were critically admired, but met with little commercial success. Leblanc was largely considered little more than a writer of short stories for various French periodicals when the first Arsene Lupin story appeared. It was published as a series of stories in the magazine 'Je Sais Trout', starting on 15th July, 1905. Clearly created at editorial request under the influence of, and in reaction to, the wildly successful Sherlock Holmes stories, the roguish and glamorous Lupin was a surprise success and Leblanc's fame and fortune beckoned. In total, Leblanc went on to write twenty-one Lupin novels or collections of short stories. On this success, he later moved to a beautiful country-side retreat in Etreat (in the Haute-Normandie region in north-western France), which today is a museum dedicated to the Arsene Lupin books. Leblanc was awarded the Legion d'Honneur - the highest decoration in France - for his services to literature. He died in Perpignan (the capital of the Pyrenees-Orientales department in southern France) on 6th November 1941, at the age of seventy-six. He is buried in the prestigious Montparnasse Cemetery of Paris. Contributor Bio:  Leblanc, Maurice Ne en 1864 a Rouen, Maurice Leblanc reve tres tot de devenir ecrivain. Mais a cette epoque, on est surtout friand de feuilletons et de nouvelles pour les journaux: c'est ainsi qu'en 1907 nait Arsene Lupin, un des plus beaux et des plus populaires heros de la litterature policiere francaise.