PERHAPS THE GREATEST HERO of French mystery fiction is the fun-loving criminal Arsène Lupin, created by Maurice Marie Emile Leblanc (1864–1941) for a new magazine in 1905. Born in Rouen, Leblanc studied in France, Germany, and England before becoming a police reporter and hack writer. The Lupin stories immediately became wildly popular and Leblanc achieved wealth and worldwide fame, and was made a member of the French Legion of Honour. Although the concoctions are fast-paced, the amount and degree of action borders on the burlesque with situations and coincidences often too far-fetched to be taken seriously.
Lupin, known as the Prince of Thieves, is a street urchin–type of young man who thumbs his nose—literally—at the police. He steals more for the fun of it than for personal gain or noble motives. He is such a master of disguise that he is able to take the identity of the chief of the Sûreté and direct police investigations into his own activities for four years. After several years as a successful criminal, Lupin decides to turn to the side of the law for personal reasons and assists the police, usually without their knowledge. He is not, however, a first-rate crime-fighter because he cannot resist jokes, women, and the derring-do of his freelance life as a crook.
“Arsène Lupin in Prison” was first published in Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Cambrioleur in Paris in 1907. The first English-language edition was The Exploits of Arsène Lupin (New York, Harper, 1907); it was reissued as The Seven of Hearts (London, Cassell, 1908) and as The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Burglar (Chicago, Donohue, 1910). The book served as the basis for two silent films, Lupin the Gentleman Burglar (1914) and The Gentleman Burglar (1915).