In 1849 Baltimore, following the death of Edgar Allan Poe, Quentin Clark discovers that Poe's final days had been marked by a series of bizarre, unanswered questions, and launches his own investigation to resolve the mystery of Poe's death.
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&;I present to you . . . the truth about this man&;s death and my life.&;Baltimore, 1849. The body of Edgar Allan Poe has been buried in an unmarked grave. The public, the press, and even Poe&;s own family and friends accept the conclusion that Poe was a second-rate writer who met a disgraceful end as a drunkard. Everyone, in fact, seems to believe this except a young Baltimore lawyer named Quentin Clark, an ardent admirer who puts his own career and reputation at risk in a passionate crusade to salvage Poe&;s.As Quentin explores the puzzling circumstances of Poe&;s demise, he discovers that the writer&;s last days are riddled with unanswered questions the police are possibly willfully ignoring. Just when Poe&;s death seems destined to remain a mystery, and forever sealing his ignominy, inspiration strikes Quentin&;in the form of Poe&;s own stories. The young attorney realizes that he must find the one person who can solve the strange case of Poe&;s death: the real-life model for Poe&;s brilliant fictional detective character, C. Auguste Dupin, the hero of ingenious tales of crime and detection.In short order, Quentin finds himself enmeshed in sinister machinations involving political agents, a female assassin, the corrupt Baltimore slave trade, and the lost secrets of Poe&;s final hours. With his own future hanging in the balance, Quentin Clark must turn master investigator himself to unchain his now imperiled fate from that of Poe&;s.Following his phenomenal debut novel, The Dante Club, Matthew Pearl has once again crossed pitch-perfect literary history with innovative mystery to create a beautifully detailed, ingeniously plotted tale of suspense. Pearl&;s groundbreaking research&;featuring documented material never published before&;opens a new window on the truth behind Poe&;s demise, literary history&;s most persistent enigma. The resulting novel is a publishing event that, through sublime craftsmanship, subtle wit, and devious twists, does honor to Poe himself
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