On a wet winter night in Paris, a boy is abandoned at the restaurant Troyon’s. Without even having a name, the boy makes a new life for himself under the stern eye of the restaurant’s owners, when through one of its guests he’s introduced to the criminal underworld. Years later, the boy—now named Michael Lanyard, the Lone Wolf —is a seasoned jewel thief, learned in mathematics, mechanics, and the ways of elegant society. He finds himself on the run, and returns to Paris where he must choose between the lonely life of a criminal, and the possibility of newfound love.

The Lone Wolf is the first of many novels and movies featuring Michael Lanyard the jewel thief.