Bumpy Oak Books

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

Actual Rating: 3.5

Maurice Leblanc’s classic stories of Arsene Lupin Gentleman Thief are refreshed in this new collection accompanied by illustrations from Vincent Mallie. Editor Mike Kennedy compiled the collection.

I was already familiar with Maurice Leblanc’s stories involving Lupin, and enjoy them. The NetGalley listing unfortunately had this collection advertised under comics and graphic novels, which this was not. This was a true collection of novellas accompanied by illustrations. I was very much looking forward to a graphic novel and hope to see one in the future. I did not allow this misadvertisement to affect my rating.

The collection of stories is a solid one, all very entertaining exploits of Lupin. The true addition, then, is the illustrations which were lovely. Mallie’s artwork seemed to be of a time with Lupin and evoked some of the line work seen in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The color palette chosen was of lovely saturation and seemed consistent with historical availability as best I could tell with my past experiences. I really do think that Mallie’s artwork added to the experience of reading the stories and that the stories included provided a nice overview of Lupin as a character.