However that turns out to be a cunning red herring, designed to throw the public off the scent. Photo credit © Moyan Brenn, Wikimedia Commons Follow the CluesĪt first, Beautrelet takes the cryptic reference to a hollow needle literally, falsely believing the valuables to be in the Château de l’Aiguille de Creuse.
This beautiful stretch of coastline is often overlooked. Yet to outwit his enemy, he must adopt his criminal mind-set, becoming the next ‘Lupin, king of thieves’. From paintings at the Louvre to sparkling gems from the royal jewellery collections, nothing is safe. In it, an earnest young amateur detective named Isidore Beautrelet discovers that Lupin is stealing valuables, replacing each item with virtually undetectable low-value fakes. Various tales prevailed over the centuries, eventually inspiring Leblanc’s novel. Yet, after this ‘man with the iron mask’ was assassinated, some say a young palace guard quietly retrieved one of his books from the ruins… Incandescent with rage, Sun King Louis XIV imprisoned him for treachery, masked him to conceal his identity and burnt every copy of his tell-all tome. Over the years, rumours reached fever pitch, until one man published a book which allegedly led readers to the spoils. Inside the elusive ‘hollow needle’ lay “the most fabulous treasure ever imagined, a collection of queens’ dowries, pearls, rubies, sapphires and diamonds… the fortune of the kings of France”. Photo credit © Gordito1869, Wikpedia ( CC BY 3.0) Leblanc’s house in Étretat, today the museum Le clos Arsène Lupin. Yet although his novel was a work of fiction, it was heavily inspired by a real-life legend. Lupin was a character created by the competitive Leblanc in a bid to overshadow the worldwide fame of Sherlock Holmes. The Hollow Needle, a 1909 detective thriller by Maurice Leblanc, is set right here by the sea, chronicling the misdemeanours of a larger-than-life ‘gentleman thief’. Yet according to a novel that brings the legend to life, there is one in particular that the royals were desperate to evade – Arsène Lupin. Besides being the best seaside town you’re likely to encounter within a 2.5 hour drive of Paris, it is home to an intriguing story – all the wealth of the French kings was said to be stashed in a secret location among the clifftops here, safely ensconced out of reach of many a quick-fingered thief. Étretat, all too often overshadowed by flashier, bigger budget beach destinations such as Biarritz and Nice, offers a world of hidden treasures – both metaphorically and according to folklore. Chloe Govan introduces us to France’s answer to Sherlock Holmes… This quiet Normandy seaside town once played host to a Belle-Époque burglar and a wily young detective.
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