Detective fiction, plays, novels and tales of mystery were his forte. He was almost forty when he took up writing as a full time profession. He covered crime and theater and traveled extensively. Leroux then went to work as a journalist. As a student, he inherited millions of francs on the death of his father and embarked on a debauched life which culminated in bankruptcy.

Born into an immensely wealthy family, he had to abandon his early dreams of becoming a writer and began studying law. Gaston Leroux, himself led an extremely colorful life. However, Gaston Leroux's novel was first released as a serial in the French magazine, La Gaulois over four months in 1909-10. Today the world knows it by Andrew Lloyd-Webber's long running musical on stage and its 2004 film adaptation, and earlier from Lon Chaney's screen portrayal of the dark intruder who roams the Paris Opera House. A masterly mix of romance, drama, mystery, suspense, love and jealousy, The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux will haunt you long after you've turned the last page.

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