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The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade, first published in New York on April Fool's Day 1857, is the ninth book and final novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book was published on the exact day of the novel's setting.Centered on the title character, The Confidence-Man portrays a group of steamboat passengers. Their interlocking stories are told as they travel the Mississippi River toward New Orleans. The narrative structure is reminiscent of The Canterbury Tales (1392). Scholar Robert Milder notes: "Long mistaken for a flawed novel, the book is now admired as a masterpiece of irony and control, although it continues to resist interpretive consensus."The novel's title refers to its central character, an ambiguous figure. He sneaks aboard a Mississippi steamboat on April Fool's Day. This stranger attempts to test the confidence of the passengers. Their varied reactions constitute the bulk of the text. Each person, including the reader, is forced to confront the placement of his trust.The novel is written as cultural satire, allegory, and metaphysical treatise, dealing with themes of sincerity, identity, morality, religiosity, economic materialism, irony, and cynicism. Many readers place The Confidence-Man alongside Melville's Moby-Dick and "Bartleby, the Scrivener" as a precursor to 20th-century literary pre-occupations with nihilism, existentialism, and absurdism.The work includes satires of 19th-century literary figures: Mark Winsome is based on Ralph Waldo Emerson, while his "practical disciple" Egbert is Henry David Thoreau; Charlie Noble is based on Nathaniel Hawthorne; and a beggar in the story was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe.The Confidence-Man was probably inspired by the case of William Thompson, a con artist active in New York City in the late 1840s.The novel was turned into an opera by George Rochberg; it was premiered by the Santa Fe Opera in 1982, but was not held to be a success. The 2008 movie The Brothers Bloom, starring Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel Weisz, borrows some of the plot and makes numerous references to the book: One of the characters is named Melville, the steamer ship is named Fidèle, and the initial mark refers to these coincidences. (wikipedia.org)

Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life is the first book by American writer Herman Melville, published in the early part of 1846, when Melville was 26 years old. Considered a classic in travel and adventure literature, the narrative is based on the author's actual experiences on the island Nuku Hiva in the South Pacific Marquesas Islands in 1842, supplemented with imaginative reconstruction and research from other books. The title comes from the valley of Taipivai, once known as Taipi. Typee was Melville's most popular work during his lifetime; it made him notorious as the "man who lived among the cannibals". The book delivers quite a wild tale and from the beginning there were questions about whether any of it could possibly be true. Prior to the London edition of the book appearing within the Colonial and Home Library series (nonfiction accounts of foreigners in exotic places), the publisher John Murray required reassurance that Melville's experiences were first-hand.Melville's desertion from the Acushnet in 1842Not long after the initial publication of the book, many of the events described were corroborated by Melville's fellow castaway, Richard Tobias Greene ("Toby"). Additionally, an affidavit was found from the ship's captain that corroborated that both men did indeed desert the ship on the island in the summer of 1842.Typee attempts to be something of a work of proto-anthropology. Melville continually admits vast ignorance of the culture and language he is describing while also trying to bolster and supplement his own experiences with a great deal of other reading and research. He also has a tendency to employ a fair amount of hyperbole and attempts at humor. A few recent scholars have dedicated themselves to questioning the basic factuality of Melville's account. For instance, the length of stay on which Typee is based is presented as four months in the narrative and this was likely an extension and exaggeration of Melville's actual stay on the island. There is also not known to have ever been a lake on the island where Melville might have gone canoeing with Fayaway, as described in the book. (wikipedia.org)

Redburn: His First Voyage is the fourth book by the American writer Herman Melville, first published in London in 1849. The book is semi-autobiographical and recounts the adventures of a refined youth among coarse and brutal sailors and the seedier areas of Liverpool. Melville wrote Redburn in less than ten weeks. While one scholar describes it as "arguably his funniest work", scholar F. O. Matthiessen calls it "the most moving of its author's books before Moby-Dick". Melville referred to Redburn and his next book White-Jacket as "two jobs which I have done for money-being forced to it as other men are to sawing wood". It was reviewed favorably in all the influential publications, American and British, with many critics hailing it as Melville's return to his original style. The critics were divided along national lines when reviewing the scene in Launcelots Hey, the British dubbing it "improbable", the Americans "powerful". In 1884 William Clark Russell, the most popular writer of sea stories in his generation, praised the book's force and accuracy in print. He also sent Melville a personal letter where, among other items, he said "I have been reading your Redburn for the third or fourth time and have closed it more deeply impressed with the descriptive power that vitalises every page." John Masefield would later single the book out as his favorite of Melville's works. When Redburn was praised, Melville wrote in his journal, "I, the author, know [it] to be trash, & wrote it to buy some tobacco with". He later complained: "What I feel most moved to write, that is banned-it will not pay. Yet, altogether, write the other way I cannot. So the product is a final hash, and all my books are botches." (wikipedia.org)

Никола́й Эдуа́рдович Ге́йнце (13 июня 1852, Москва - 24 мая [6 июня] 1913, Киев, похоронен в Санкт-Петербурге) - русский писатель чешского происхождения. Также выступал как журналист, адвокат, военный корреспондент.Родился 13 (25) июня 1852 года в Москве. Отец - по национальности чех, учитель музыки, мать - костромская дворянка, урожденная Ерлыкова.Гейнце окончил московский пансион Кудрякова, 5-ю московскую гимназию (1871), юридический факультет Московского университета. После окончания университета стал адвокатом в Москве. Присяжный поверенный Гейнце провёл несколько крупных процессов, в числе которых было и громкое дело червонных валетов. В 1879-1884 годах служил в Министерстве юстиции, в 1881 году стал товарищем (заместителем) прокурора Енисейской губернии.Свои стихи и рассказы он начал публиковать с 1880 года в московских журналах и газетах Зритель, Радуга, Московский листок, Русской газете.В 1884 году Гейнце вышел в отставку, чтобы полностью отдаться литературной работе. За год жизни в Петербурге он успевает написать роман, объёмом более тысячи страниц - В тине адвокатуры.Гейнце написал также несколько пьес, вызвавших нападки критики, но имевших успех у зрителя. Критики недоумевали, за что же любят произведения Гейнце, рассматривали его творчество как умственную пищу для неискушенного читателя, вероятно, недооценивая масштабы возросшего с уровнем грамотности спроса на лёгкое чтение.Умер Н. Э. Гейнце в Киеве, похоронен в Петербурге. (wikipedia.org)

Алексей Будищев родился 14 (26) января 1867 в имении Богоявленский Чардым Петровского уезда Саратовской губернии (ныне - Чардым Лопатинского района Пензенской области). Двоюродный дед - картограф И. М. Будищев; родной дядя - Алексей Фёдорович Будищев, подполковник корпуса лесничих, один из первых исследователей российского Приморья и Приамурья; отец - дворянин, отставной военный Николай Фёдорович Будищев; мать - Филиппина Игнатьевна, из польского шляхетского рода Квятковских. Окончил классическую гимназию в городе Пензе, затем учился на медицинском факультете Московского университета. С увлечением занимался зоологией, но вскоре потерял интерес к медицине и ушёл из университета, не окончив 4 курс.В начале своей литературной деятельности Алексей Будищев писал очень много стихов, но только малая часть из них вошла в сборник его стихотворений. Его слог в юмористических пьесах Венгеров называл бойким, в других - легким, мелодичным, порою даже живописным. В ряду стихотворений последнего рода пользуется известностью небольшая картинка древнеримской жизни - Триумфатор. Однако критики сходились на том, что у него нет своей излюбленной области воспроизведения, своих собственных настроений. Он пишет на самые разнообразные темы - чаще всего, впрочем, в стиле нарядных песен Фофанова о весне и любви, - но это, судя по всему, не захватывает ни его самого, ни читателя.Автор текста знаменитого романса Калитка (1898).В 1909 году, протестуя в числе многих деятелей искусства (Л. Н. Толстой, В. Г. Короленко, Л. Андреев, Ф. Сологуб и многие другие) против массовых смертных казней, написал очерк Нервы.Алексей Будищев был одним из членов петербургского литературного кружка Пятница.В сотрудничестве с Александром Митрофановичем Фёдоровым он переделал в драму свой рассказ Катастрофа.Болгарский поэт Красимир Георгиев перевёл на болгарский язык стихотворение Будищева Недвижно облака повисли над землёй.Много лет жил в Гатчине. Алексей Николаевич Будищев скончался 22 ноября (5 декабря) 1916 года в Петрограде. Похоронен на Литераторских мостках (южная часть). (wikipedia.org)

Алексей Будищев родился 14 (26) января 1867 в имении Богоявленский Чардым Петровского уезда Саратовской губернии (ныне - Чардым Лопатинского района Пензенской области). Двоюродный дед - картограф И. М. Будищев; родной дядя - Алексей Фёдорович Будищев, подполковник корпуса лесничих, один из первых исследователей российского Приморья и Приамурья; отец - дворянин, отставной военный Николай Фёдорович Будищев; мать - Филиппина Игнатьевна, из польского шляхетского рода Квятковских. Окончил классическую гимназию в городе Пензе, затем учился на медицинском факультете Московского университета. С увлечением занимался зоологией, но вскоре потерял интерес к медицине и ушёл из университета, не окончив 4 курс.В начале своей литературной деятельности Алексей Будищев писал очень много стихов, но только малая часть из них вошла в сборник его стихотворений. Его слог в юмористических пьесах Венгеров называл бойким, в других - легким, мелодичным, порою даже живописным. В ряду стихотворений последнего рода пользуется известностью небольшая картинка древнеримской жизни - Триумфатор. Однако критики сходились на том, что у него нет своей излюбленной области воспроизведения, своих собственных настроений. Он пишет на самые разнообразные темы - чаще всего, впрочем, в стиле нарядных песен Фофанова о весне и любви, - но это, судя по всему, не захватывает ни его самого, ни читателя.Автор текста знаменитого романса Калитка (1898).В 1909 году, протестуя в числе многих деятелей искусства (Л. Н. Толстой, В. Г. Короленко, Л. Андреев, Ф. Сологуб и многие другие) против массовых смертных казней, написал очерк Нервы.Алексей Будищев был одним из членов петербургского литературного кружка Пятница.В сотрудничестве с Александром Митрофановичем Фёдоровым он переделал в драму свой рассказ Катастрофа.Болгарский поэт Красимир Георгиев перевёл на болгарский язык стихотворение Будищева Недвижно облака повисли над землёй.Много лет жил в Гатчине. Алексей Николаевич Будищев скончался 22 ноября (5 декабря) 1916 года в Петрограде. Похоронен на Литераторских мостках (южная часть). (wikipedia.org)

Mary Roberts Rinehart (August 12, 1876 - September 22, 1958) was an American writer, often called the American Agatha Christie, although her first mystery novel was published 14 years before Christie's first novel in 1920.Rinehart is considered the source of the phrase "The butler did it" from her novel The Door (1930), although the novel does not use the exact phrase. Rinehart is also considered to have invented the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing, with the publication of The Circular Staircase (1908). (wikipedia.org)Mary Roberts graduated from the Pittsburgh Training School for Nurses in 1896. That same year she married physician Stanley M. Rinehart. She and her husband started a family, and she took up writing in 1903 as a result of difficulties created by financial losses. Her first story appeared in Munsey's Magazine in 1903. The Circular Staircase (1908), her first book and first mystery, was an immediate success, and the following year The Man in Lower Ten, which had been serialized earlier, reinforced her popular success. Thereafter she wrote steadily, averaging about a book a year. A long series of comic tales about the redoubtable "Tish" (Letitia Carberry) appeared as serials in the Saturday Evening Post over a number of years and as a series of novels beginning with The Amazing Adventures of Letitia Carberry (1911).Rinehart served as a war correspondent during World War I and later described her experiences in several books, notably Kings, Queens and Pawns (1915). She produced as well a number of romances and nine plays. Most of the plays were written in collaboration with Avery Hopwood; her greatest successes were Seven Days, produced in New York in 1909, and The Bat, derived from The Circular Staircase and produced in 1920. She remained best known, however, as a writer of mysteries, and the growing popularity of that genre after World War II led to frequent republication of her works. Her most memorable tales combined murder, love, ingenuity, and humour in a style that was distinctly her own. Her autobiography, My Story, appeared in 1931 and was revised in 1948. At Rinehart's death her books had sold more than 10 million copies. (britannica.com)

This was an interesting glimpse into what American life was like in the run up to World War I. I learned some things--such as that sabotage was a very real threat in those days--and appreciated Rinehart's perspective on the attitudes of the time, both for and against entering the war. This was an inspirational read that vividly showed the difference between people who live their lives according to a moral code, even if it means turning their backs on happiness, and people who live only for themselves: Some time during the evening his thoughts took this form: that there were two sorts of people in the world: those who seized their own happiness, at any cost; and those who saw the promised land from a far hill, and having seen it, turned back. (Sophie)

Poor Miss Finch (1872) by Wilkie Collins is a novel about a young blind woman who temporarily regains her sight while finding herself in a romantic triangle with two brothers. Twenty-one-year-old Lucilla Finch, the independently wealthy daughter of the rector of Dimchurch, Sussex, has been blind since infancy. Shortly after the narrator, Madame Pratolungo, arrives to serve as her paid companion, Lucilla falls in love with Oscar Dubourg, her shy and reclusive neighbour, also wealthy, who devotes himself to craftsmanship in precious metals.After being attacked and knocked unconscious by robbers, Oscar is nursed by Lucilla and falls in love with her, and the couple become engaged. Their plans are jeopardized by Oscar's epilepsy, a result of the blow to his head. The only effective treatment, a silver compound, has the side-effect of turning his skin a permanent, dark blue-grey. Despite her blindness, Lucilla suffers a violent phobia of dark colours, including dark-complexioned people, and family and friends conceal Oscar's condition from her.Meanwhile, Oscar's twin brother, Nugent, returns from America, where he has dissipated his fortune pursuing a career as a painter. Oscar is devoted to his brother, who is as outgoing, confident and charming as Oscar is diffident and awkward. Knowing of Lucilla's blindness, Nugent has arranged for her to be examined by a famous German oculist, Herr Grosse. Herr Grosse and an English oculist each examine Lucilla but disagree on her prognosis. Lucilla elects to be operated on by Herr Grosse, who believes he can cure her. After the operation, but before the bandages are taken off, Madame Pratolungo pressures Oscar into telling Lucilla of his disfigurement, but his nerve fails and, instead, he tells her it is Nugent who has been disfigured.Nugent is secretly infatuated with Lucilla and now manipulates her into believing that he is Oscar. As Lucilla gradually regains her sight, Herr Grosse forbids family and friends from undeceiving her, since the shock might imperil her recovery. Oscar goes abroad, resigning his fiancée to his brother in despair. Madame Pratolungo intervenes decisively with Nugent, appealing to his conscience and threatening him with exposure if he continues with his plan to marry Lucilla under Oscar's name. He promises to go abroad to find his brother and return him home.Nugent soon returns to England and tracks Lucilla to the seaside, where, on Herr Grosse's orders, she is staying with her aunt, away from her immediate family. He pressures her to marry as soon as possible, without her family's knowledge, and works to poison her trust in Madame Pratolungo, who is away in Marseilles attending to her wayward father. Detecting but not understanding the change in her supposed fiancé, Lucilla becomes distraught, over-strains her eyes and begins to lose her vision.In the novel's denouement, Madame Pratolungo locates Oscar with the help of a French detective. His experiences have revealed an unexpected strength of character, and she conceives a new respect for him. The two of them race home to England to stop the marriage while there is still time. Held virtually prisoner at a Dubourg cousin's house, Lucilla is again totally blind. With the help of a kindly servant, she escapes to meet them, immediately recognizes the true Oscar, and is told the full story by Madame Pratolungo. A penitent Nugent returns to America, where he later dies on a polar expedition. Lucilla and Oscar settle in Dimchurch to raise a family, with Madame Pratolungo as her companion. Perfectly content in her blindness, she refuses Herr Grosse's offers to attempt another operation. (wikipedia.org)

It examines the conflict between faith, emotional intelligence & science. I found it extremely compelling and had real problems putting it down at night. The other themes I figured were English and her nurse who is Italian. Mental health issues: madness as embodied in Mrs Galilee, the hero's mother & his cousin & sweetheart, Carmina, the heroine of the novel. Intellectualism & rationalism as symbolised by Science. This is embodied in Mrs Galilee & Dr Benjula who is a vivisectionist. Both are totally devoid of empathy and the ability to see a situation from someone else's perspective. This attitude is contrasted with Deep feeling, compassion & tenderness as embodied in the hero Ovid Vere & Carmina who turns a bitter rival into a loving, devoted friend. These qualities are symbolised in the word heart. (Zareen)

Possibly the best account yet of the role of Torquemada in the Inquisition, with particular emphasis in the back half of the book of the notorious "Infante de la Guardia" incident and the role of that affair on Ferdinand and Isabella's decision to expel all Jews from Spain in 1492, right around the time Columbus was heading out to try to discover a new route to the "Indies." Sabatini's account is readable, interesting, and opinionated in all the right places, with just a touch of cynicism when called for. Highly recommended. (Brian Swain)

Sabatini's heroes are so quick-witted and hilariously sarcastic. He's at ease in virtually every situation but his love life. And it NEVER gets old. The historical accuracy of a time period in which kings are in exile, rebellions are beginning, and loyalties are being questioned--how easily a tale of vengeance can unravel. But it's more complicated than that. It's how Sabatini likes it. And it's how I like it. This man is one of the most entertaining historical authors in the history of the genre. ...(Karen)

A selection of short works in which Sabatini writes as different protagonists out for a night on the town. Using his talent for imagery, his wordsmithing and his wry sense of humor, it makes these books a window into the past.

Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life is the first novel by English author Elizabeth Gaskell, published in 1848. The story is set in the English city of Manchester between 1839 and 1842, and deals with the difficulties faced by the Victorian working class. The novel begins in Manchester, where we are introduced to the Bartons and the Wilsons, two working-class families. John Barton is a questioner of the distribution of wealth and the relations between rich and poor. Soon his wife dies-he blames it on her grief over the disappearance of her sister Esther. Having already lost his son Tom at a young age, Barton is left to raise his daughter, Mary, alone and now falls into depression and begins to involve himself in the Chartist, trade-union movement.Chapter 1 takes place in the countryside where Greenheys is now.Mary takes up work at a dressmaker's (her father had objected to her working in a factory) and becomes subject to the affections of hard-working Jem Wilson and Harry Carson, son of a wealthy mill owner. She fondly hopes, by marrying Carson, to secure a comfortable life for herself and her father, but immediately after refusing Jem's offer of marriage she realizes that she truly loves him. She, therefore, decides to evade Carson, planning to show her feelings to Jem in the course of time. Jem believes her decision to be final, though this does not change his feelings for her.Meanwhile, Esther, a "street-walker," returns to warn John Barton that he must save Mary from becoming like her. He simply pushes her away, however, and she's sent to jail for a month on the charge of vagrancy. Upon her release, she talks to Jem with the same purpose. He promises that he will protect Mary and confronts Carson, eventually entering into a fight with him, which is witnessed by a policeman passing by.Not long afterward, Carson is shot dead, and Jem is arrested for the crime, his gun having been found at the scene. Esther decides to investigate the matter further and discovers that the wadding for the gun was a piece of paper on which is written Mary's name.She visits her niece to warn her to save the one she loves, and after she leaves Mary realizes that the murderer is not Jem but her father. She is now faced with having to save her lover without giving away her father. With the help of Job Legh (the intelligent grandfather of her blind friend Margaret), Mary travels to Liverpool to find the only person who could provide an alibi for Jem - Will Wilson, Jem's cousin and a sailor, who was with him on the night of the murder. Unfortunately, Will's ship is already departing, so that, after Mary chases after the ship in a small boat, the only thing Will can do is promise to return in the pilot ship and testify the next day.During the trial, Jem learns of Mary's great love for him. Will arrives in court to testify, and Jem is found "not guilty". Mary has fallen ill during the trial and is nursed by Mr. Sturgis, an old sailor, and his wife. When she finally returns to Manchester she has to face her father, who is crushed by his remorse. He summons John Carson, Harry's father, to confess to him that he is the murderer. Carson is still set on justice, but after turning to the Bible he forgives Barton, who dies soon afterward in Carson's arms. Not long after this Esther comes back to Mary's home, where she, too, soon dies.Jem decides to leave England, where, his reputation damaged, it would be difficult for him to find a new job. The novel ends with the wedded Mary and Jem, their little child, and Mrs. Wilson living happily in Canada. The news comes that Margaret has regained her sight and that she and Will, soon to be married, will visit. (wikipedia.org)

E.F. Benson, in full Edward Frederic Benson, (born July 24, 1867, Wellington College, Berkshire, Eng.-died Feb. 29, 1940, London), writer of fiction, reminiscences, and biographies, of which the best remembered are his arch, satirical novels and his urbane autobiographical studies of Edwardian and Georgian society.The son of E.W. Benson, an archbishop of Canterbury (1883-96), the young Benson was educated at Marlborough School and at King's College, Cambridge. After graduation he worked from 1892 to 1895 in Athens for the British School of Archaeology and later in Egypt for the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. In 1893 he published Dodo, a novel that attracted wide attention. It was followed by a number of other successful novels-such as Mrs. Ames (1912), Queen Lucia (1920), Miss Mapp (1922), and Lucia in London (1927)-and books on a wide range of subjects, totaling nearly 100. Among them were biographies of Queen Victoria, William Gladstone, and William II of Germany. In 1938 he was made an honorary fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge. Benson's reminiscences include As We Were (1930), As We Are (1932), and Final Edition (1940). (britannica.com)

Kipling's greatest strength really was as a short story writer. And this thematic collection of stories centered on the British Raj is one of the better efforts at bringing some of his very best works together. It includes "The Man Who Would be King," "The Phantom Rickshaw," and many other favorites. But most of all, it is strung together with several of Kipling's shorter short stories about three army enlisted men, Mulvaney, Learoyd, and Otheris. Some of the Mulvaney stories are certainly stronger than others--I'm thinking of the palanquin caper. But taken together, they give a unique perspective to a social class serving in India not much mentioned in most fiction of the era.When you read these stories, you also realize Kipling's great strength. It was his ironic voice. He could meld together romantic idealism with realistic atmospheres. But what always set things off was the use of irony. (Paul Cornelius)

Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen (French: Un capitaine de quinze ans) is a Jules Verne novel published in 1878. It deals primarily with the issue of slavery, and the African slave trade by other Africans in particular.Several adaptations were made, two Soviet and one Franco-Spanish. Themes explored in the novel include: The painful learning of adult life - the hero, Dick Sand, must assume command of a ship after the death of his captain.The discovery of entomologyCondemnation of slaveryRevenge (wikipedia.org)

Arthur Robert Harding (July 1871 - 1930), better known as A. R. Harding, was an American outdoorsman and the founder of Hunter-Trader-Trapper and Fur-Fish-Game Magazine, and publisher, editor and author of many popular outdoor how-to books of the early 1900s. His company was known as the A. R. Harding Publishing Company of Columbus, Ohio and St. Louis, Missouri. Harding's books and magazines had an enormous impact on trapping, trap manufacturing, the fur trade, conservation and game laws.Harding was one of the first national advocates of scientific wildlife management, conservation and good sportsmanship. In his articles, he called for a closed season on furbearers, at a time when many states allowed year-round trapping and hunting. He fought to make the game laws fair and consistent, and opposed the federal government's use of poison to kill wolves and coyotes.His books and articles on fur farming accelerated the industry's potential. With the depletion of the beaver in Canada, the growing demand for fur articles, and the development of new dyeing techniques (which allowed mock furs to be made from cheaper pelts), the easily obtained, how-to information that Harding offered helped to quickly expand the home enterprise of raising furbearers. Harding's motives for supporting this business were not entirely profit-driven: he believed that fur farming would help reduce the pressure on wild populations, which were being destroyed through habitat depletion, and save the furbearers from extinction. (wikipedia.org)

Maurice Marie Émile Leblanc (11 December 1864 - 6 November 1941) was a French novelist and writer of short stories, known primarily as the creator of the fictional gentleman thief and detective Arsène Lupin, often described as a French counterpart to Arthur Conan Doyle's creation Sherlock Holmes.The first Arsène Lupin story appeared in a series of short stories that was serialized in the magazine Je sais tout, starting in No. 6, dated 15 July 1905. Clearly created at editorial request, it's possible that Leblanc had also read Octave Mirbeau's Les 21 jours d'un neurasthénique (1901), which features a gentleman thief named Arthur Lebeau, and he had seen Mirbeau's comedy Scrupules (1902), whose main character is a gentleman thief.By 1907, Leblanc had graduated to writing full-length Lupin novels, and the reviews and sales were so good that Leblanc effectively dedicated the rest of his career to working on the Lupin stories. Like Conan Doyle, who often appeared embarrassed or hindered by the success of Sherlock Holmes and seemed to regard his success in the field of crime fiction as a detraction from his more "respectable" literary ambitions, Leblanc also appeared to have resented Lupin's success. Several times he tried to create other characters, such as private eye Jim Barnett, but he eventually merged them with Lupin. He continued to pen Lupin tales well into the 1930s.Leblanc also wrote two notable science fiction novels: Les Trois Yeux (1919), in which a scientist makes televisual contact with three-eyed Venusians, and Le Formidable Evènement (1920), in which an earthquake creates a new landmass between England and France.Leblanc was awarded the Légion d'Honneur for his services to literature, and died in Perpignan in 1941. He was buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery. Georgette Leblanc was his sister. (wikipedia.org)

Arsene Lupin is back from his tenure in WW1 and under the pseudonym D. Luis Perenna (notice anything about that name?) to solve another tangled mess of mysteries in honor of his sadly deceased friend.As a Lupin book it's one of the ones where you follow him the whole time as opposed to something like "The Hollow Needle" where the thief is more of a force of nature, although a couple of features stand out from the usual Lupin adventure mainly his constant cooperation with police force insistent on solving the case with or without "D. Luis".I felt that it reads better than previous books as well, it might just be that I'm more used to Leblanc's style of writing, the long directed monologues without interruptions, the verbose assertions of what people are doing or feeling, the (obviously) dated language and concepts but the quicker pace of the story serves that style well as well as the constant twists and recontextualization of supposedly solved events. (Eduardo Eloy)