Opening Passage:
The two boats fastened to the little pier that jutted out from the garden lay rocking in its shadow. Here and there lighted windows showed through the thick mist on the margins of the lake. The Enghien Casino opposite blazed with light, though it was late in the season, the end of September. A few stars appeared through the clouds. A light breeze ruffled the surface of the water.
Arsène Lupin left the summer-house where he was smoking a cigar and, bending forward at the end of the pier:
“Growler?” he asked. “Masher?... Are you there?”
A man rose from each of the boats, and one of them answered: “Yes, governor.”
“Get ready. I hear the car coming with Gilbert and Vaucheray.”
He crossed the garden, walked round a house in process of construction, the scaffolding of which loomed overhead, and cautiously opened the door on the Avenue de Ceinture. He was not mistaken: a bright light flashed round the bend and a large, open motor-car drew up, whence sprang two men in great-coats, with the collars turned up, and caps.
It was Gilbert and Vaucheray: Gilbert, a young fellow of twenty or twenty-two, with an attractive cast of features and a supple and sinewy frame; Vaucheray, older, shorter, with grizzled hair and a pale, sickly face.
Summary: Taking place in narrative time sometime before 813, The Crystal Stopper introduces us to an aspect of Lupin's extraordinary abilities that has been seen here and there in previous works, but never brought into focus: his gang. Lupin has his own extraordinary talents, of course, but it is clear that he has some sort of organization that allows him to leverage these talents in the most effective way. As the narrator at one point notes, in practical terms this cannot be large organization; it has to have a small core that is able to make use of various occasional supplementary groups that are not part of the organization itself. What we find in The Crystal Stopper is an instance in which an important part of the core organization breaks down. A robbery goes very wrong, with the result that two of Lupin's associates are arrested; in the hands of the police, they turn on each other, with the result that they will be executed for murder. Lupin has reason to think that one of the two is innocent of the murder, and, besides that, will eventually have reasons of his to try to protect the innocent man from execution (since Lupin is French, 'reasons of his own' inevitably means a beautiful woman).
Things will get stranger from here, however, as in the course of investigating Lupin finds that there is more going on than there ever seemed to be on the surface. The robbery and murder occurred at the house of Deputy Daubrecq, and Lupin finds that there is an obscure blackmailing scheme going on around Daubrecq. The blackmail for some reason is connected to a crystal stopper, which seems to be an entirely ordinary stopper for a bottle, and on obtaining Lupin finds, to his embarrassment that he, the greatest thief in France is the victim of theft -- and ends up being the victim of theft more than once. Eventually the blackmail scheme is shown to center on a blackmail list of politicians who have taken bribes related to the financial disaster of the Canal Company. But what does it have to do with the crystal stopper? Why is the crystal stopper even of any importance at all? Can Lupin uncover the truth before the execution? And even if he can, will he be able to leverage the matter so as to be able to do anything to save a man from being executed for a crime he did not commit?
It's interesting to see Lupin in the role of a detective. We've had bits and pieces, especially in 813, but this is thoroughly a mystery story, as we follow Lupin sorting clues and solving puzzles, winding through an obstacle course of lies, threats, misdirections, and misleading evidence. Several times, he finds he has to backtrack and find his trail again. The mystery itself is quite well done; the essential idea ("People do not suspect what does not appear to be hidden") is literally one of the oldest ideas in detective fiction, but is given a rather original twist here. The detective role suits Lupin very well, and a detective who works not occasionally but entirely outside the law, and is perfectly fine with committing all sorts of crimes in order to solve the case, is an interesting novelty.
Favorite Passage: My actual favorite passage I can't give here because it gives away an essential plot twist to the mystery, of the crystal stopper. Here is a distant second:
“Dear me, yes, an attractive bandit, a romantic and chivalrous cracksman, anything you please. For all that, in the eyes of a really honest woman, with an upright nature and a well-balanced mind, I am only the merest riff-raff.”
I saw that the wound was sharper than he was willing to admit, and I said: “So you really loved her?”
“I even believe,” he said, in a jesting tone, “that I asked her to marry me. After all, I had saved her son, had I not?... So . . . I thought. What a rebuff!... It produced a coolness between us.... Since then....”
“You have forgotten her?”
“Oh, certainly! But it required the consolations of one Italian, two Americans, three Russians, a German grand-duchess and a Chinawoman to do it!”
Recommendation: Highly Recommended; it's a decent mystery story, and it's fascinating to see Lupin solving a mystery.
