The Hollow Needle · Character

Inspector Ganimard

The tenacious police inspector who has chased Arsène Lupin for years and greets a schoolboy rival with open, weary irony.

supporting

Also known as M. Ganimard, old Ganimard, a Ganimard, Inspector Ganimard

First appearance: i the shot

As a supporting figure in The Hollow Needle, Inspector Ganimard is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

Captures Beautrelet at the château; present during the magistrate's questioning.

In the storyII: Isidore Beautrelet, Sixth-Form SchoolboyOpen this moment free

See Inspector Ganimard in II: Isidore Beautrelet, Sixth-Form Schoolboy Book page

Free preview opens at this moment — character cards, Character Web, and themes sit beside the text as you read.

Ganimard is the professional whose place, the magistrate insists, is in the room whenever Beautrelet speaks, though the inspector would clearly rather be elsewhere. He is nonplussed by the boy's low bow, skeptical of armchair deduction, and driven by the plain policeman's instinct to break down doors rather than reason through them. His dogged pursuit of Lupin supplies the story's bass note of official pursuit, against which Beautrelet's leaps of insight look either brilliant or absurd.

Continue beside the text

The fuller portrait of Inspector Ganimard sits in Reading Lens — open the free preview to keep reading with notes on the page.

See Inspector Ganimard in i the shot

Character Web

13 connections

A slice of how Inspector Ganimard sits in the book — open the reader for the full interactive map.

Relationship types

Other

Character groups

Primary Investigation Circle
Protagonist

+8 more in the full Character Web

Open in reader

Narrative arc

Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.

Setup
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

Isidore reaches his emotional and psychological nadir here, having been utterly defeated and humiliated by Lup…

Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.

Follow the arc while reading

In the story

Inspector Ganimard appears across 4 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

II: Isidore Beautrelet, Sixth-Form Schoolboy
Captures Beautrelet at the château; present during the magistrate's questioning.
VI: An Historic Secret
Returns to Paris after being kidnapped and circumnavigating Africa on Lupin's yacht; recounts the voyage.
IX: Open, Sesame!
Arrives to coordinate the assault on the Needle. Reveals the government's interest in keeping the Needle a secret for military strategy. Charms twelve fishing smacks and arranges for a torpedo boat.
X: The Treasures of the Kings of France
Not directly seen, but his forces are heard breaking down the doors of the Needle below.

Chapter companion notes

Spoil-light check-ins for Inspector Ganimard unlock in the free preview.

See Inspector Ganimard in i the shot

See Inspector Ganimard in II: Isidore Beautrelet, Sixth-Form Schoolboy