Uses the death of Poe as background for a mystery story set in Baltimore and Paris.
In this book, Edgar Allan Poe has just died and is buried in an unmarked grave. Everyone thinks that he was a drunk and most people aren't very impressed with his writing. Except for Quentin Clark who is a lawyer and a big fan of the writer. He is convinced that Poe did not die the way everyone thinks he did, he decides that the person to solve the mystery is no less than C. Augustine Dupin, the detective from the story "Murders in the Rue Morgue". Convinced that the detective is not a fictional character. Quentin goes to France to find him, the iudea is to bring him back to Baltimore to solve the mystery of Poe's death. This book has so many twists and turns, you really have to pay attention to what's going on. I don't think this was as well written as "The Dante Club" but if you are a Poe fan, you might find this interesting.
The author weaves portions of Poe's life and literature in to a mystery, educating while entertaining the author.
I normally enjoy Pearl's books, but this one seemed to jump around more than usual. Maybe it was the abridging. It seemed like the tracks were arranged randomly on the discs.
Longish musical interludes played between chapters - not between discs, which is where one would expect them.
The narrator was great with voices and accents; he really made it easy to keep the characters straight, even when the action seemed to be skipping around.
Longish musical interludes played between chapters - not between discs, which is where one would expect them.
The narrator was great with voices and accents; he really made it easy to keep the characters straight, even when the action seemed to be skipping around.