Episode Details

A warning note slipped into a locked apartment, a metal playing card — the seven of hearts — pierced with seven small holes, and a stranger who breaks in to investigate only to shoot himself before he can speak: so begins one of the strangest cases in the Arsène Lupin canon, as the narrator is drawn into a mystery he never asked for and learns his home was once owned by Louis Lacombe, a vanished inventor who built a weaponised submarine and a hidden vault sealed by a code only those metal cards can unlock; a murdered engineer, stolen war plans, a banker with a secret, and a vault concealed in a mosaic floor — threads no single man should be able to follow, unless that man is Arsène Lupin, gentleman burglar and master of disguise, who has been standing in the room the whole time under another name; this is Maurice Leblanc's great creation, the thief cleverer than the police and always three moves ahead, France's answer to Sherlock Holmes, from The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar, presented complete and unabridged, exactly as Maurice Leblanc wrote it, from the Midnight Archive — Nocturnal Tales' library of the classic detective stories that built the genre.

ℹ️ FOR LISTENERSThis is a complete, unabridged reading of The Seven of Hearts by Maurice Leblanc, first collected in 1907 and now in the public domain. Every word is the author's own. Part of The Midnight Archive: three nights of classics every week, alongside four original Nocturnal Tales mysteries.

🗳️ YOU CHOOSE WHAT'S NEXTThe Archive is deep — more Arsène Lupin? Sherlock Holmes? Father Brown? Anna Katharine Green? Vote in the poll attached to this episode, or tell us in the comments which classic you want to hear by lamplight.

💬 QUESTION FOR THE COMMENTSLupin steals, deceives, and breaks every law — yet hands the submarine plans to his country and protects an innocent wife. Can a thief be the most honourable person in the room? 🕵️

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🧾 CREDITSStory by Maurice Leblanc (public domain). Narrated and produced by Nocturnal Tales.

🔖 TAGS / KEYWORDSarsène lupin audiobook, maurice leblanc audiobook, the seven of hearts audiobook, the seven of hearts unabridged, gentleman burglar story, arsene lupin gentleman thief, extraordinary adventures of arsene lupin, french detective fiction, submarine plans mystery, hidd