Audiobook · read by volunteers
Hollow Needle: Further Adventures of Arsène Lupin
Maurice Leblanc (1864–1941)
Read by RedToby, Gesine, Ophelia Darcy, Martin Clifton, Ezwa, Ted Delorme · 10 chapters · 6 h 58
About the book
A shot rings out in the night at a country house in Normandy, and a burglary goes wrong. The news reaches a young schoolboy named Isidore Beautrelet, who takes an interest in the case. He is clever, observant and only seventeen, and he soon becomes convinced that the crime is only the surface of a far deeper mystery connected with a strange rock formation on the coast. Opposing him is Arsène Lupin, the gentleman burglar, master of disguise and always one step ahead. Along the way Lupin crosses paths once more with the famous Holmlock Shears. Maurice Leblanc's adventure is quick, witty and full of surprises. Ten chapters and seven hours of cat and mouse.
Introduction
Maurice Leblanc was born in 1864 and died in 1941. A French novelist, he wrote realistic fiction at first, but he became famous in 1905 when he created Arsène Lupin, a gentleman thief at once charming and dangerous. Lupin appeared in a long series of stories and novels, and became one of the best known characters in French popular fiction.
The Hollow Needle, published in 1909, is one of the most celebrated of the Lupin novels. In the English version heard here, by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, who lived from 1865 to 1921 and translated many French works, it bears the subtitle Further Adventures of Arsène Lupin. The book sets Lupin against an unusual opponent, a young schoolboy detective, and it makes fun of the conventions of the genre while following them. It also brings back the British detective Holmlock Shears, the English rendering of the name under which Leblanc parodied Sherlock Holmes (Herlock Sholmes in the French).
The story involves disguise, treasure, love and a chase that becomes more and more personal. At its heart is a question, whether this time Lupin has met his match.
The LibriVox recording was made by volunteers who share the reading across ten chapters. The first is called The Shot, and the second, Isidore Beautrelet, Sixth-form Schoolboy. The whole lasts about seven hours. Why listen? Because Leblanc is a master of the twist, and the novel is a pleasure for anyone who enjoys a good puzzle told with humour and speed.
Public domain
Maurice Leblanc died in 1941: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text