813 Annotated

813 by Maurice Leblanc Rudolf Kesselbach, a South African billionaire, is assassinated in a Parisian palace. Arsene Lupine is framed for the crime, and must escape the clutches of the cunning M. Lenormand, the head of the French Sûreté, as he searches for the real murderer, an enigmatic figure dressed in black who signs his crimes "L. M." Both Lupine and L. M. also seek to acquire the secret of Kesselbach that can completely overthrow the political map of Europe, the key of which is encapsulated in a mysterious cryptogram: 813. 813, written in 1910, is Arsene Lupin's greatest adventure, taking him from La Santé prison in Paris to the corridors of the great powers of Europe. Lupine has never encountered such a savage and cunning adversary as L. M., nor has he solved such an impenetrable mystery as "813" that defied even the legendary sagacity of Sherlock Holmes. Retranslated and published uncut here for the first time, this edition of the novel comes with a new epilogue written especially for this book by prominent lupinologist Jean-Marc Lofficier, laying out the truth behind Holmes's role in 813.