The Crystal Stopper

What It's About

When a burglary at the home of Deputy Daubrecq goes wrong, a man is killed and two of Arsène Lupin's accomplices, Gilbert and Vaucheray, are arrested. Only one of them is actually guilty, but both are condemned to die. Lupin sets out to save the innocent man, only to find himself pitted against Daubrecq, a ruthless blackmailer who holds a document powerful enough to threaten the government itself, hidden away inside an ordinary crystal stopper. Cornered, outmanoeuvred, and running out of time, Lupin faces one of the toughest fights of his career.

Key Concepts

Leblanc drew on the real-life Panama scandals of the 1890s, in which bribed politicians helped cover up the collapse of a canal-building venture, to shape the novel's plot of political blackmail and hidden corruption. The trick of concealing Daubrecq's incriminating document in plain sight, inside an unremarkable object, echoes the central idea of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Purloined Letter".

About the Author

Maurice Leblanc (1864–1941) was a French novelist and short story writer from Rouen. After early literary work met with little commercial success, he found lasting fame in 1905 with the creation of Arsène Lupin, the gentleman thief who became his signature character. He was awarded the Legion of Honour for his contribution to French literature.

About This Edition

This is a 1913 translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos.