Synopsis "L'éclat d'obus (in French)"

Parbleu, cette présence est signalée là où il l'ordonne, et jamais là où il ne veut pas qu'elle le soit. En tout cas, sur ce point encore, j'étais accusé d'erreur, et l'enquête se heurtait à un ensemble d'obstacles, d'impossibilités, de mensonges, d'alibis, qui, pour moi, révélait l'action continue et toute-puissante d'une autorité sans limites. Cette explication est la seule admissible. Voyons, est-ce que deux Français peuvent loger dans un hôtel de Strasbourg sans qu'on relève leurs noms sur le registre de cet hôtel ? Or, qu'un tel registre ait été confisqué, ou telle page arrachée, nos noms n'ont été relevés nulle part. Donc aucune preuve, aucun indice. Patrons et domestiques d'hôtel ou de restaurant, buralistes de gare, employés de chemin de fer, loueurs de bicyclettes, autant de subalternes, c'est-à-dire de complices, qui tous ont reçu la consigne du silence et dont pas un seul n'a désobéi.

Maurice LeBlanc

(Author)

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Maurice-Marie-Émile Leblanc (Rouen, December 11, 1864-Perpignan, November 6, 1941), better known as Maurice Leblanc, was a French novelist and short story writer

Born into a wealthy family, his father was a rich shipowner based in Rouen. After finishing his law studies, he dedicated himself to working in various industries in the region. After a while not applying himself much to industrial work, he moved to Paris, where he began his literary career, from around 1892 until 1904. He published about ten books, the first of which was titled: Des Couples (Couples).

In 1904, Pierre Laffite, director of Je sais Tout, commissioned him a story for his newly founded magazine. Maurice accepted the commission and soon delivered an original titled "The Arrest of Arsène Lupin". According to the author's own words, this was the only Lupin story he had planned. However, Pierre Laffite was strongly impressed by the character and encouraged Leblanc to develop the character.

Thus, at forty years old and with a literary prestige earned by his previous works, Arsène Lupin was born from the hand of Leblanc, a gentleman thief, whose work consists of almost 20 books.

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