Maurice Marie Émile Leblanc (1864 – 1941) was a French author and short story writer best known for creating Arsène Lupin, the fictitious gentleman thief and detective often compared to Arthur Conan Doyle's creation Sherlock Holmes. When the first Arsène Lupin story appeared in a series of short stories serialized in the journal Je Sais Tout, commencing in No. 1, Leblanc was mainly considered little more than a writer of short stories for various French periodicals. 6, dated July 15, 1905. The roguish and glamorous Lupin was a surprise hit, and Leblanc's fame and wealth beckoned. Obviously constructed at editorial request under the influence of and in reaction to the hugely famous Sherlock Holmes stories, the roguish and glamorous Lupin was a surprise success, and Leblanc's fame and fortune beckoned. Leblanc went on to write twenty-one Lupin novels and short story collections in total.