Arsene Lupin turns up in every retrospective anthology on the art of detective fiction, but this is the first volume of a projected series to bring his stories together and will be the only collection in English. Leblanc's novels foreshadowed Simenon for storytelling talent and variety. Lupin, his best known creation in this country, anticipated The Saint and drew on the romantic shades of Robin Hood; the great detective was also a superb ""...burglar, swindler, rogue...a Don Quixote who liked to laugh and cry,"" a master of disguise. He also added intuition to deduction for speed in solution. The nine short stories here are not given an introduction and there is no indication that any order--either by date of first publication or chronologically within Lupin's long lifetime--has been imposed. The stories have a wit and Lupin a polish that has lasted well since his vogue during the '20's and '30's