Slippery As Sin - Pierre Souvestre

Intrepid journalist Jerome Fandor picks up the trail of Fantômas in London, but before he can relay the details to Inspector Juve in Paris, the Lord of Terror pounces. Meanwhile a certain Dr. Garrick, suspected of the murder of his missing wife, flees with his mistress aboard an ocean liner, with Detective Shepard of the “Council of Five” (Scotland Yard’s top agents) in pursuit. Madame Garrick, presumed dead, is in France and could exonerate her estranged husband, but only Juve knows the terrible secret of her true identity.
 
“From the imaginative standpoint Fantômas is one of the richest works that exist.” 
—Guillaume Apollinaire 
 
“Absurd and magnificent lyricism.” 
—Jean Cocteau