Memoirs of Ars&egrave;ne Lupin was originally published in France in 1924 under the name La Comtesse de Cagliostro; this English translation was published the following year. Maurice Leblanc was not the only author to call on the myth of Cagliostro as a framing device: both Goethe and Dumas had written famous novels on the subject. This story showcases a Lupin who is growing into his abilities, and with the swings between outright confidence and self-doubt that would be expected of so comparatively young a protagonist.<br /><br />In the process of writing his memoirs, Ars&egrave;ne Lupin takes us back to his early twenties and his first love: Clarice d&rsquo;Etigues. Although forbidden by her father to meet, that doesn&rsquo;t stop Ralph d&rsquo;Andresy&mdash;Lupin&rsquo;s nom du jour&mdash;from wooing Clarice. But when he finds evidence on the d&rsquo;Etigues estate of a conspiracy to murder a woman, he cannot help but be drawn into the ensuing three-way race to a legendary treasure.<br />|Source Standard Ebooks|