The Hollow Needle is a novel by Maurice Leblanc featuring the adventures of the gentleman thief, Ars&egrave;ne Lupin. It has been published in the French magazine Je sais tout from November 1908 to May 1909.<br />Ars&egrave;ne Lupin is opposed this time by Isidore Beautrelet, a young but gifted amateur detective, who is still in high school but who is poised to give Ars&egrave;ne Lupin a big headache. The Mystery of the Hollow Needle hides a secret that the Kings of France have been handing down since the time of Julius Caesar... and now Ars&egrave;ne Lupin has mastered it. The legendary needle contains the most fabulous treasure ever imagined, a collection of queens&#39; dowries, pearls, rubies, sapphires and diamonds... the fortune of the kings of France.<br />Plot summary<br />When Isidore Beautrelet discovers the Ch&acirc;teau de l&#39;Aiguille in the department of Creuse, he thinks that he has found the solution to the riddle (&quot;l&#39;Aiguille Creuse&quot; being French for &quot;The Hollow Needle&quot;, and also the French title of the novel). However, he did not realize that the ch&acirc;teau was built by Louis XIV, the king of France, to put people off the track of a needle in Normandy, near the town of Le Havre, where Ars&egrave;ne Lupin, known also under the name of Louis Valm&eacute;ras, has hidden himself.<br />|Wikipedia|