cover image The Murder of Edgar Allan Poe

The Murder of Edgar Allan Poe

George Egon Hatvary. Carroll & Graf Publishers, $22 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-7867-0358-6

Just shy of the 150th anniversary of Poe's death, Hatvary (The Suitor) extrapolates from the facts to suggest that murder may have been the cause. Who better to investigate such a heinous crime than Poe's own creation, Auguste Dupin of Paris? After receiving a letter from Poe's fiancee intimating that Poe had serious enemies, and after reading a scurrilous obituary (anonymously sent to him) from a New York newspaper, Dupin vows to investigate and sails to Baltimore. Once there, he becomes besotted with and woos Poe's fiancee, Elmira Shelton. Nor does he waste time in his investigation. Dupin and Dr. Moran, the physician who was with Poe in his final hours, stage a ""body-snatching,"" conduct a postmortem and discover ample traces of arsenic in the poet's body. Methodically, Dupin gathers evidence of Poe's enemies. Ultimately, he is captured by the man who most wanted Poe dead. The horror of Dupin's rat-infested imprisonment is as vivid as any torment created by Poe. Hatvary does a fair imitation, too, of Poe's emotional and melodramatic style, although the climactic end seems rushed. Happily, however, he never condescends to his reader while providing enough historical information to create solid context. Readers will look forward to further adventures of Auguste Dupin. (Mar.)