Readers used to the Arsène Lupin short stories may find this a bit of bore with plots within plots and Arsène being Arsène bragging and peacocking but it also has more character development of Arsène with him being firmly established as anti-hero even when he want to be a hero. Without giving away the plot the ending was worth it. Readers may think the story full of tropes and it certainly shares storylines with Sherlock Holmes but for a piece written in between 1900-1910 it would have been considered timely and full of interesting social details. It's not as chauvanistic as other works of the time but it's still of it's time and full of stereotypes and beliefs of that time.