In the process of writing his memoirs, Arsène Lupin takes us back to his early twenties and his first love: Clarice d¿Etigues. Although forbidden by her father to meet, that doesn¿t stop Ralph d¿Andresy¿Lupin¿s nom du jour¿from wooing Clarice. But when he finds evidence on the d¿Etigues estate of a conspiracy to murder a woman, he cannot help but be drawn into the ensuing three-way race to a legendary treasure.
Memoirs of Arsène Lupin was originally published in France in 1924 under the name La Comtesse de Cagliostro, this English translation was published the following year. Maurice Leblanc was not the only author to call on the myth of Cagliostro as a framing device: both Goethe and Dumas had written famous novels on the subject. This story showcases a Lupin who is growing into his abilities, and with the swings between outright confidence and self-doubt that would be expected of so comparatively young a protagonist.