The Hollow Needle

When a young detective sets out to expose Arsene Lupin, the chase leads to one of France’s oldest secrets. Isidore Beautrelet, a brilliant schoolboy with a gift for deduction, follows a trail of ciphers and clues toward the meaning of the Hollow Needle, a mystery said to have guarded the treasure of French kings since the days of Julius Caesar. Maurice Leblanc turns his usual formula on its head, letting Lupin play the hunted for once as his sharp-witted rival closes in. Serialized in 1908 and 1909, the novel wraps the real cliffs of Etretat around its puzzle and stands among Leblanc’s most admired books. Translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, it is free here as a PDF and EPUB edition.