
In a snow‑kissed winter night, the Marquise de Langrune gathers a small, eclectic circle in the warm glow of her drawing‑room fireplace. Among her guests are a retired magistrate, a parish priest, a fashionable widow, and a bright‑eyed youth fresh from the countryside. The intimate setting, with crackling logs and the soft clink of china, frames a conversation that drifts from polite chatter to a fascination with the unseen forces that shape society.
The retired magistrate, President Bonnet, begins to speak of crime’s hidden architects—figures like the Iron Mask, Cagliostro, and the notorious bandit Cartouche—hinting that a new specter walks the streets: Fantômas. He describes this enigmatic villain as a master of terror, a phantom who eludes every police net. As curiosity ignites around the fire, listeners are drawn into a world where intellect and menace intertwine, promising a thrilling chase through the shadows of early‑20th‑century France.
Language
en
Duration
~9 hours (562K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2009-01-13
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1885–1969
Best known for helping create the master criminal Fantômas, this French novelist wrote fast-paced popular fiction that helped shape early 20th-century thrillers. His work blended pulp energy, mystery, and a taste for the sensational.
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1874–1914
Best known as the co-creator of Fantômas, this French journalist and novelist helped launch one of early crime fiction’s most notorious villains. His fast-moving, sensational stories left a mark on popular literature even though his life was cut short in 1914.
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