Arsène Lupin, The Gentleman Burglar by Maurice Leblanc
4½ stars for the story, 2 stars for the translation
Arsène Lupin is simply a fabulous character. He's a thief, but suave and brilliant and a "gentleman." I just wish this translation by Nicolae Sfetcu had been better.
The collection includes the first nine stories:
1) The Arrest of Arsene Lupin
2) Arsene Lupin in Prison
3) The Escape of Arsene Lupin
4) The Mysterious Traveller
5) The Queen’s Necklace
6) The Seven of Hearts
7) Madame Imbert’s Safe
8) The Black Pearl
9) Sherlock Holmes Arrives Too Late
Lupin gets arrested, organizes a heist from jail, and escapes from jail. He solves a couple of mysteries, in order to steal the items himself of course and even outwits Holmes. I truly enjoyed the stories. They're fun and light.
This particular translation is not well done though. Aside from not being particularly smooth, the pronouns seem to get mixed up a lot - him and her almost become interchangeable, which is more than a little annoying. I could follow the story, and see...