''The Hollow Needle'' is a novel by

Maurice Leblanc Maurice Marie Émile Leblanc (; ; 11 December 1864 – 6 November 1941) was a French novelist and writer of short stories, known primarily as the creator of the fictional gentleman thief and detective Arsène Lupin, often described as a French c ...

featuring the adventures of the

gentleman thief A gentleman thief, gentleman burglar, lady thief, or phantom thief is a stock character in fiction. A gentleman or lady thief is characterised by impeccable manners, charm, courteousness, and the avoidance of physical force or intimidation to ...

Arsène Lupin Arsène Lupin (French pronunciation: ʁsɛn lypɛ̃ is a fictional gentleman thief and master of disguise created in 1905 by French writer Maurice Leblanc. The character was first introduced in a series of short stories serialized in the magazi ...

. As with the preceding two volumes of the Arsène Lupin stories, this was first serialized in the French magazine ''

Je sais tout ''Je sais tout'' (meaning ''I Know All'' in English) was a French magazine established by Pierre Lafitte in 1905. It was noted for featuring the works of Maurice Leblanc, in particular the adventures of Arsène Lupin, which was first published i ...

'' from November 1908 to May 1909. The novel was released, with a few modifications, in June 1909.

Plot summary

Arsène 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 Arsène Lupin a big headache. In the Arsène Lupin universe, the Hollow Needle is the second secret of

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...

and

Alessandro Cagliostro Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (, ; 2 June 1743 – 26 August 1795) was the pseudonym, alias of the Italian occultist Giuseppe Balsamo (; in French usually referred to as Joseph Balsamo). Cagliostro was an Italian adventurer and self-styled ...

, the hidden fortune of the kings of France, as revealed to Arsène Lupin by

Josephine Balsamo Josephine Balsamo (a.k.a. Countess Cagliostro) is a fictional character who is the best known antagonist of Arsène Lupin, the notorious gentleman burglar created by Maurice Leblanc. History Josephine Balsamo claims to be Joséphine Pellegrini ...

in the novel ''The Countess of Cagliostro'' (1924). The Mystery of the Hollow Needle hides a secret that the Kings of France have been handing down since the time of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

... and now Arsène Lupin has mastered it. The legendary needle contains the most fabulous treasure ever imagined, a collection of queens' dowries, pearls, rubies, sapphires and diamonds... the fortune of the kings of France. When Isidore Beautrelet discovers the Château de l'Aiguille in the department of

Creuse Creuse (; oc, Cruesa or ) is a department in central France named after the river Creuse. After Lozère, it is the second least populated department in France. It is bordered by Indre and Cher to the north, Allier and Puy-de-Dôme to the eas ...

, he thinks that he has found the solution to the riddle ("l'Aiguille Creuse" being French for "The Hollow Needle", and also the French title of the novel). However, he did not realize that the château was built by

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

, the king of France, to put people off the track of a needle in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, near the town of

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...

, where Arsène Lupin, known also under the name of Louis Valméras, has hidden himself.

Sequels

A direct sequel to this novel, featuring Lupin against La Griffe, is the novel ''Le second visage d'Arsène Lupin'' by

Boileau-Narcejac Boileau-Narcejac is the pen name used by the prolific French crime-writing duo of Pierre Boileau (28 April 1906 – 16 January 1989) and Pierre Ayraud, aka Thomas Narcejac (3 July 1908 – 7 June 1998). Their successful collaboration produced 43 n ...

in 1975.

In the popular media

In January 2021,

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

began streaming the Lupin (TV series) of five episodes; they take place in current times and feature fictional master thief Assane Diop. According to

Rolling Stone (magazine) ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its c ...

, "both the show and the character of Assane take their inspiration from Arsène Lupin ...

he main character is given He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

a Lupin novel at a formative age, and Assane treats the Lupin stories as his own personal Bible hile performing"spectacular crimes". The fifth episode of the series was filmed in and around the commune of

Étretat Étretat () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of Northwestern France. It is a tourist and farming town situated about northeast of Le Havre, at the junction of the D 940, D 11 and D 139 roads. It is located on ...

where Maurice Leblanc owned a home which is now the Clos Lupin Museum.

Principal characters

* Isidore Beautrelet, the boy detective * Mademoiselle Raymonde * Arsène Lupin * Examining magistrate Filleul * Ganimard, a French police detective * Louis Valméras * The Count of Gesvres * Holmlock Shears

References

External links

* *
Project Gutenberg E-text of The Hollow Needle
*
The Hollow Needle on Wikisource
* French crime novels Arsène Lupin novels 1909 French novels Novels first published in serial form Works originally published in Je sais tout {{1900s-crime-novel-stub