The Lone Wolf

Summary

A guttersnipe Marcel plucks Burke, a maestro of larceny, from the gendarmerie’s net on a rain-slick Parisian boulevard; gratitude mutates into apprenticeship, and the urchin’s fingers soon dance over safe-dials with a virtuoso’s finesse. Rechristened Michael Lanyard, he becomes a nocturnal poet whose stanzas are forged in bullion and betrayal, eluding every dragnet until the press mints him “The Lone Wolf,” a sobriquet as elegant as it is lethal. The Pack—a syndicate whose ethics are etched in gun-oil—demands fealty; refusal brands him a moving target. Lucy, an agent with a conscience lacquered in sin, infiltrates the underworld’s cabaret, her double-crosses choreographed to jazz percussion. Together they ricochet from Montmartre rooftops to fog-choked airstrips, bootleggers nipping at their heels, until a rickety biplane lifts them over the Channel. The Pack’s pursuit ends in a fireball of twisted aluminum and poetic justice above the white cliffs; Lanyard, singed but unshackled, swaps skeleton keys for wedding bands, whispering vows instead of vault combinations.

Synopsis

When Marcel, a waif, saves master crook Burke from the police, Burke adopts the youngster and teaches him his profession. Years later, Marcel has become a master crook himself, working under the name of Michael Lanyard. His clever work baffles the Paris police, who dub him "The Lone Wolf". The Pack, a gang of criminals, notifies The Wolf that unless he joins them, he is marked for destruction. Lucy, an undercover agent masquerading as a crook to expose the gang, helps The Wolf escape. This inaugurates a series of adventures in which Lucy and The Wolf are pursued by the gang, finally making their escape to England by plane. The Pack follows, only to meet their death in a plane crash. Liberated from his tormentors, The Wolf vows to go straight and marries Lucy.