Book description
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MATTHEW PEARL
Edgar Allan Poe invented the genre of detective fiction with these
three mesmerising stories of a young French eccentric named C. Auguste
Dupin: 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue', 'The Mystery of Marie Rogêt'
and 'The Purloined Letter'. Years later Dorothy Sayers would describe
these tales as 'almost a complete manual of detective theory and
practice'. Indeed, Poe's short mysteries inspired the creation of
countless literary sleuths, among them Sherlock Holmes. Today the
unique Dupin stories still stand out as utterly engrossing page-turners.
This edition reproduces the definitive text of these stories and an
introduction and appendix on 'The Earliest Detectives' by the novelist
Matthew Pearl.
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, USA, in 1809. Poe, short story
writer, editor and critic, he is best known for his macabre tales and as
the progenitor of the detective story. He died in 1849, in mysterious
circumstances, at the age of forty.
