The book gently poked fun at Sherlock Holmes and Watson, with two side characters named Herlock Sholmès and Wilson.

Two years later, the first novel based on the character came out, Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Cambrioleur. L’arrestation d’Arsène Lupin was an immense success. After a few misfires, he was then asked by an editor to write a short story inspired by the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. At 29, he wrote his first book, a best-seller, Une femme. Not much of a manual worker, he started as a journalist, like many writers before him. As a teenager, he was already hanging out with two of the biggest names in French literature, Flaubert and Guy de Maupassant. Maurice Leblanc, born in 1864 and a descendent of Gustave Flaubert on his mother’s side, always wanted to pursue a career in writing. In the two weeks following the release of the Netflix series, the number of Arsène Lupin books sold was the equivalent of a normal full year of sales of the Maurice LeBlanc character.Īrsène Lupin, a copycat of Sherlock Holmes? It’s no surprise a season 3 is expected for early 2023. The first season was watched by 76 million viewers, and the second season by 54 million, making it one of Netflix’s biggest successes to date. Lupin was an instant hit and was the first ever French series to be on Netflix’s top 10 in the United States. Omar Sy actually plays an admirer of Arsène Lupin, who uses the character’s tricks to get revenge on a rich Parisian family who are responsible for the death of his father. George Kay, the creator of the show, used the books to write the script but the series itself doesn’t in fact follow any novel. The streaming platform had a lot of hope when they released their adaptation of Maurice Leblanc’s Arsène Lupin. But Americans as well as the rest of the world have recently discovered him through the success of Lupin, Netflix’s latest French series. Maurice Leblanc is no stranger to French readers. Highschoolers of 2022 are finding out, just like their parents and grand-parents before them, how thrilling his writing was.

His books are back on the best-sellers list in France and his name is associated with the biggest streaming platform. 80 years after his death, Maurice Leblanc has yet never been more relevant.

Arsene lupin book series