The eight strokes of the clock is a collection of stories of Maurice Leblanc featuring the adventures of Arsene Lupin, all of which have a common thread. To distract and seduce a young woman, Hortense Daniel, Arsene Lupin, with the identity of Prince Serge Renin, will focus on solving eight puzzles. Working with, for or against the police, Lupin fails to fly in the news. The use of the figure 8 is pushed to its climax in the story The Lady and the Axe.