The Lone Wolf

The Lone Wolf: A Melodrama, by Louis Joseph Vance, was first published in 1914 and was the first of what eventually became an 8-book series.

The main character, Michael Lanyard, also known as The Lone Wolf, is a jewel thief who in later stories reforms and becomes a private detective. In this first book, we learn of his difficult past and his journey that led to this pre-war moment, when he gets entangled with both a Paris crime mob and a woman, confronts his present and future course, and then seeks ways to escape his life of crime.

"The Lone Wolf" series was also made into 24 films between 1914 and 1949, as well as radio and television dramas.

Louis Joseph Vance (1879-1933) was a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and early-day film producer, who attended the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and worked in the movies for a time in Los Angeles. His body of work includes short stories and verse, all written after 1901, and many popular novels. Vance died at age 54, in an accidental fire in his New York City apartment.