Yeah, I must admit, I was inspired on this one by the new Netflix series, the new interpretation of Arsin Lupin. For those who didn't have a chance to give Leblanc a read, or watch the movie (might be a Netflix Europe type of show), the work deals with a gentleman thief, a sort of opposite of Sherlock Holmes (actually there are a few short stories where the thief does meet Sherlock Holmes, character which from further readings I understand was renamed Herlock Sholmes ... because Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who was contemporary to Leblanc had a cow when the latter first used the S.H. name in his own work without paying any royalties) ... a negative character, but likeable, that sort of thing. Non the less, aside from the literary aspect of the stories, and the great value the author brings to the genre, I wanted to point out that the novel features a lot of tobacco use. I thought this to be very interesting as, in addition to Doyle's accounts of Holmes which point out the cultural acceptance of tobacco in Victorian England, we can see how tobacco was viewed in continental Europe. It seems to me that the whole tobacco use was not a one trick pony for everybody. While some characters are dedicated to using a single form of tobacco, most enjoy tobacco in any for they can get their hands on.
The main character for examples enjoys cigarettes, which he order by the package (whatever that may be - I am guessing in excess of 20), specifically Henry Clay cigars (apparently they still make them today) and he keeps a pipe in a drawer in handy.
I do recommend this if it falls in your hands. The literary style makes the stories, in my opinion, less exciting than Doyle's work (and I may be biased here), but it's an interesting read non the less.
The main character for examples enjoys cigarettes, which he order by the package (whatever that may be - I am guessing in excess of 20), specifically Henry Clay cigars (apparently they still make them today) and he keeps a pipe in a drawer in handy.
I do recommend this if it falls in your hands. The literary style makes the stories, in my opinion, less exciting than Doyle's work (and I may be biased here), but it's an interesting read non the less.
