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The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder
On July 28, 1841, the body of Mary Rogers, a twenty-year-old cigar girl, was found floating in the Hudson-and New York's unregulated police force proved incapable of solving the crime. One year later, a struggling writer named Edgar Allan Poe decided to take on the case-and sent his fictional detective, C. Auguste Dupin, to solve the baffling murder of Mary Rogers in "The Mystery of Marie Rog�t."
326 pages, Hardcover
First published October 5, 2006
105 people are currently reading
3975 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Stashower
42 books223 followersDaniel Stashower is the author of The Boy Genius and The Mogul as well as the Edgar Award-winning Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle. He is also the author of five mystery novels, the most recent of which is The Houdini Specter. Stashower is a recipient of The Raymond Chandler Fulbright Fellowship in Detective and Crime Fiction Writing, and spent a year as a Visiting Fellow at Wadham College, Oxford. A freelance journalist since 1986, Stashower's articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic Traveller and Connoisseur. He lives with his wife and two sons in Washington, D.C.
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June 7, 2022
It’s hard to review this book! Biography, a sensational murder case, and New York City history are all covered in this book….and some readers might think the book could have been shortened.
New York City in the 1840’s comes alive as author Daniel Stashower, with his exhaustive and extensive research, interweaves the detailed biography of Edgar Allan Poe with the sensational tabloid coverage of the brutal murder of Mary Rogers, the beautiful cigar girl.
Stashower aptly portrays the early days of tabloid journalism, where fact and fiction were combined in articles to sway public opinion. The sensational murder case offered a chance to increase readership as the tabloids sought to reveal lurid details and speculate on the identity of Mary’s murderer.
Edgar Allan Poe, who was often down on his luck, attempted to solve the murder himself by writing a fictionalized account of a “similar” murder. In doing so, he actually invented the writing of the “detective novel” as we know it today. He influenced other famous writers of the time including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle whose fictional character Sherlock Holmes used the same techniques to solve crimes as Poe’s detective did.
The murder case also led to police reform and the establishment of a paid city police force instead of a volunteer force. In addition to that, the case led to legislation regarding abortion which was common during that period of time.
At times, it was challenging to read the chapters because of the vocabulary and manner of speaking used in the 1800’s. Mr. Stashower included many direct quotations from the letters, diaries, newspapers, journals, and magazines of the time. He also worked closely with distinguished Poe scholars to bring Edgar Allan Poe to life. Anyone interested in the life of Edgar Allan Poe would learn a lot from reading this book! An extensive bibliography of sources is provided at the end of the book.
New York City in the 1840’s comes alive as author Daniel Stashower, with his exhaustive and extensive research, interweaves the detailed biography of Edgar Allan Poe with the sensational tabloid coverage of the brutal murder of Mary Rogers, the beautiful cigar girl.
Stashower aptly portrays the early days of tabloid journalism, where fact and fiction were combined in articles to sway public opinion. The sensational murder case offered a chance to increase readership as the tabloids sought to reveal lurid details and speculate on the identity of Mary’s murderer.
Edgar Allan Poe, who was often down on his luck, attempted to solve the murder himself by writing a fictionalized account of a “similar” murder. In doing so, he actually invented the writing of the “detective novel” as we know it today. He influenced other famous writers of the time including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle whose fictional character Sherlock Holmes used the same techniques to solve crimes as Poe’s detective did.
The murder case also led to police reform and the establishment of a paid city police force instead of a volunteer force. In addition to that, the case led to legislation regarding abortion which was common during that period of time.
At times, it was challenging to read the chapters because of the vocabulary and manner of speaking used in the 1800’s. Mr. Stashower included many direct quotations from the letters, diaries, newspapers, journals, and magazines of the time. He also worked closely with distinguished Poe scholars to bring Edgar Allan Poe to life. Anyone interested in the life of Edgar Allan Poe would learn a lot from reading this book! An extensive bibliography of sources is provided at the end of the book.
April 5, 2011
In 1841, a 20-year-old boarding house worker, Mary Rogers -- a delicate beauty formerly renowed throughout New York City for doing nothing more than selling cigars at a tobacco seller's booth that catered to all classes of men enamored of her charms (including some of the city's most powerful leaders, businessmen and artists) -- disappeared from home and was found days later floating in the Hudson River, battered beyond recognition with parts of her own skirt stuck in her neck from strangulation or dragging, or both. Or was it Mary Rogers at all? And was she really gang raped, beaten and strangled by roving street hooligans, or did she die in some other nefarious fashion, with a subsequent beating meant to cover up the original crime? Did she die in the thicket near Hoboken, New Jersey, or somewhere else? And what about her temporary mysterious disappearance three years earlier? Was there a connection? Was a powerful man perhaps to blame? Or what about the mysterious sailor, or the man with the mutton chop sideburns?
The massive number of questions arising from this unsolved murder -- one of the most notorious criminal cases of 19th century America -- do not faze Daniel Stashower in his experty crafted, meticulous and impossible to stop reading examination of the case, The Beautiful Cigar Girl -- a case so imprinted on the public consciousness of the time that writers, poets, journalists (in addition to law enforcement, the judiciary, business leaders and others) engaged in every manner of speculation in trying their hands at solving the crime.
Although the murder of a prostitute, Helen Jewett, had kept the press and citizens of New York rapt just a few years before, Mary Rogers was seen as a "good girl," so that the outrage over her disappearance and death animated the zeitgeist at an entirely higher order of magnitude. The penny press -- the antecedent of yellow journalism -- was at its height, and the coverage of the crime was speculative, contradictory, irresponsible, with finger pointing among publishers, the cops, judges, and politicians laying the blame as the case dragged on for months, unsolved. New York City had a police force that was a laughingstock, essentially no different than it had been from the days since the Revolution: outmoded, powerless, underfunded, ineffective and corrupt. The city was overrun by gangs, many from the infamous Five Points slum not far from Mary Rogers' boarding house or the tobacconists. The book becomes a sweeping and flavorful account of a teeming New York City in the 1840s, bursting at the seams, filthy, dangerous and marked by extreme class and socioeconomic divisions. The Rogers case turned over a rock on the underbelly of the city, revealing shocking aspects of life usually left unspoken in light of the delicate sensibilities of the time, including the existence of brothels and abortion houses.
Among the writers dabbling in speculations about the case was Edgar Allen Poe, whose lengthy story The Mystery of Marie Rogêt, was a not very veiled attempt to solve the crime in a fictional guise. In fact, the story mirrored the known facts of the real case while only changing the names of the players and the locations of the crime -- moving the action to Paris and the Seine instead of New York and the Hudson. In the end, like everyone else, Poe was stymied, but in the course of his deductions, Poe often brilliantly reconsidered the evidence and drew persuasive conclusions in several particulars of the case. The story was a showcase for Poe and the detective character, C. Auguste Dupin, whom he had introduced in his previous Murders in the Rue Morgue. The Rogers case dovetailed, as it happened, with Poe's invention of the deductive crime investigator in literary fiction. By trying to blend the story of Poe and his literature into the story of Mary Rogers, Stashower courts potential disaster, but succeeds in what he sets out to do. About one-third of the book is, in fact, a biography of Poe, which may dismay some, but it serves a purpose of lending context of the times, the arts and the development of mystery fiction. Because Stashower has consulted all of the available biographical material on Poe, he is able to provide the most pithy and balanced view of Poe's life possible, while at the same time penning a multi-faceted look at the Rogers case that is not likely to be bettered.
The book is superbly written, and in the same manner of Erik Larson's popular historical fantasias juggles several centers of interest. Unlike Larson, whose attempts at doing this mostly strike me as inept in the way he cuts back and forth in his narrative threads, Stashower succeeds at keeping things clear, and betters Larson in actually establishing, achieving and sustaining narrative momentum. Stashower follows up well, presenting the aftermath of the Rogers case on the law enforcement and politics of the city as well as the literary legacy it had, especially in relation to Poe's work and those who followed, including Arthur Conan Doyle as well as those who mastered the art of blending fact and fiction in crime lit, such as Truman Capote. Just as the evidence in the Rogers case evolved and even perceptions about the purity of "the beautiful cigar girl" changed over time, perceptions of Poe changed with the times and fashion; Stashower shows the changes in Poe's reputation and how he has been perceived by enthusiasts and scholars over the years. This is an incredible, sweeping work of popular historical archeology, and once I picked it up, I absolutely did not put it down. I can't think of higher praise than that.
The massive number of questions arising from this unsolved murder -- one of the most notorious criminal cases of 19th century America -- do not faze Daniel Stashower in his experty crafted, meticulous and impossible to stop reading examination of the case, The Beautiful Cigar Girl -- a case so imprinted on the public consciousness of the time that writers, poets, journalists (in addition to law enforcement, the judiciary, business leaders and others) engaged in every manner of speculation in trying their hands at solving the crime.
Although the murder of a prostitute, Helen Jewett, had kept the press and citizens of New York rapt just a few years before, Mary Rogers was seen as a "good girl," so that the outrage over her disappearance and death animated the zeitgeist at an entirely higher order of magnitude. The penny press -- the antecedent of yellow journalism -- was at its height, and the coverage of the crime was speculative, contradictory, irresponsible, with finger pointing among publishers, the cops, judges, and politicians laying the blame as the case dragged on for months, unsolved. New York City had a police force that was a laughingstock, essentially no different than it had been from the days since the Revolution: outmoded, powerless, underfunded, ineffective and corrupt. The city was overrun by gangs, many from the infamous Five Points slum not far from Mary Rogers' boarding house or the tobacconists. The book becomes a sweeping and flavorful account of a teeming New York City in the 1840s, bursting at the seams, filthy, dangerous and marked by extreme class and socioeconomic divisions. The Rogers case turned over a rock on the underbelly of the city, revealing shocking aspects of life usually left unspoken in light of the delicate sensibilities of the time, including the existence of brothels and abortion houses.
Among the writers dabbling in speculations about the case was Edgar Allen Poe, whose lengthy story The Mystery of Marie Rogêt, was a not very veiled attempt to solve the crime in a fictional guise. In fact, the story mirrored the known facts of the real case while only changing the names of the players and the locations of the crime -- moving the action to Paris and the Seine instead of New York and the Hudson. In the end, like everyone else, Poe was stymied, but in the course of his deductions, Poe often brilliantly reconsidered the evidence and drew persuasive conclusions in several particulars of the case. The story was a showcase for Poe and the detective character, C. Auguste Dupin, whom he had introduced in his previous Murders in the Rue Morgue. The Rogers case dovetailed, as it happened, with Poe's invention of the deductive crime investigator in literary fiction. By trying to blend the story of Poe and his literature into the story of Mary Rogers, Stashower courts potential disaster, but succeeds in what he sets out to do. About one-third of the book is, in fact, a biography of Poe, which may dismay some, but it serves a purpose of lending context of the times, the arts and the development of mystery fiction. Because Stashower has consulted all of the available biographical material on Poe, he is able to provide the most pithy and balanced view of Poe's life possible, while at the same time penning a multi-faceted look at the Rogers case that is not likely to be bettered.
The book is superbly written, and in the same manner of Erik Larson's popular historical fantasias juggles several centers of interest. Unlike Larson, whose attempts at doing this mostly strike me as inept in the way he cuts back and forth in his narrative threads, Stashower succeeds at keeping things clear, and betters Larson in actually establishing, achieving and sustaining narrative momentum. Stashower follows up well, presenting the aftermath of the Rogers case on the law enforcement and politics of the city as well as the literary legacy it had, especially in relation to Poe's work and those who followed, including Arthur Conan Doyle as well as those who mastered the art of blending fact and fiction in crime lit, such as Truman Capote. Just as the evidence in the Rogers case evolved and even perceptions about the purity of "the beautiful cigar girl" changed over time, perceptions of Poe changed with the times and fashion; Stashower shows the changes in Poe's reputation and how he has been perceived by enthusiasts and scholars over the years. This is an incredible, sweeping work of popular historical archeology, and once I picked it up, I absolutely did not put it down. I can't think of higher praise than that.
January 4, 2013
There are parts of this book that are very engaging and interesting -- life in lower Manhattan in the 1830s and 40s, for example; the beach and spring scene in Hoboken along the Hudson River, the sad and tragic case of Mary Rogers, and of course Poe's life story.
But this book fails to find a convincing narrative that links all of these parts together. Instead, the author gets bogged down in side stories and works too hard to link it all together, not very convincingly.
As a result, the book is slow going, and somewhat frustrating. A good editor was needed here.
December 11, 2022
(scroll down for review in English)
Es increíble la cantidad de cosas de las que habla este libro. Principalmente es una biografía de Edgar Allan Poe así como un relato periodístico del asesinato de Mary Rogers, una joven belleza muy celebrada localmente en la época. Y, por supuesto, cuenta cómo ambas cosas convergen en la escritura por parte de Poe de «El misterio de Marie Rogêt». Pero también trata, entre otras cosas, de: periódicos en el siglo XIX y el naciente sensacionalismo de la prensa; algunas consideraciones históricas sobre cómo era la vida en Nueva York en esa época y un poco en Estados Unidos en general, por ejemplo cómo los cuerpos policiales profesionales no eran algo generalizado cuando Mary Rogers fue asesinada, ni tampoco eficaces allí donde existían; el modo en que Edgar Allan Poe sentó las bases del cuento detectivesco e incluso del género del true crime. Todo ello muy curioso, claro, y necesario para entender correctamente por qué el crimen de Mary Rogers fue tan relevante desde el punto de vista social y literario. Pero no puedo evitar pensar que Daniel Stashower se detiene tanto en cada tema que al final el libro se hace demasiado largo, y que al final resulta interesante pero no apasionante.
El volumen se cierra con el cuento en cuestión, «El misterio de Marie Rogêt», que para mi gusto es uno de los relatos más aburridos y erráticos escritos por el escritor bostoniano, en absoluto a la altura de «Los crímenes de la calle Morgue».
= · = · = · = · = · = · = · =
This book talks about so many things it's ridiculous (I'll never get used to use the word "ridiculous" in even the slightest positive sense. In my mother tongue, which is Spanish, you don't say "ridículo" unless you go for the jugular). It's mainly a biography of Edgar Allan Poe and a journalistic style account of the murder of Mary Rogers, a young beauty much celebrated locally at the time. And, certainly, how both things converge in Poe writing "The mystery of Marie Rogêt". But on its way it also deals with, amongst other issues: newspapers in the XIX century and their emerging sensationalism; some historical considerations about New York at that time and the United States in general, such as how professional police departments weren't something widespread in USA at the time of Mary Rogers murder, and how they were not that efficient where they already existed; how Edgar Allan Poe set the bases for detective stories and even the true crime genre. All of this is stimulating, sure, and necessary to understand properly why Mary Rogers murder was relevant socially and for literature. But I can't help thinking that Daniel Stashower elaborates a little too much on every subject, and so the book tends to feel longish, and just interesting but not exactly thrilling.
The book closes with Poe's "The mystery of Marie Rogêt", which for my tastes is one of the most boring and rambling stories ever written by the Bostonian writer, not at all up to "The Murders in the Rue Morgue".
Es increíble la cantidad de cosas de las que habla este libro. Principalmente es una biografía de Edgar Allan Poe así como un relato periodístico del asesinato de Mary Rogers, una joven belleza muy celebrada localmente en la época. Y, por supuesto, cuenta cómo ambas cosas convergen en la escritura por parte de Poe de «El misterio de Marie Rogêt». Pero también trata, entre otras cosas, de: periódicos en el siglo XIX y el naciente sensacionalismo de la prensa; algunas consideraciones históricas sobre cómo era la vida en Nueva York en esa época y un poco en Estados Unidos en general, por ejemplo cómo los cuerpos policiales profesionales no eran algo generalizado cuando Mary Rogers fue asesinada, ni tampoco eficaces allí donde existían; el modo en que Edgar Allan Poe sentó las bases del cuento detectivesco e incluso del género del true crime. Todo ello muy curioso, claro, y necesario para entender correctamente por qué el crimen de Mary Rogers fue tan relevante desde el punto de vista social y literario. Pero no puedo evitar pensar que Daniel Stashower se detiene tanto en cada tema que al final el libro se hace demasiado largo, y que al final resulta interesante pero no apasionante.
El volumen se cierra con el cuento en cuestión, «El misterio de Marie Rogêt», que para mi gusto es uno de los relatos más aburridos y erráticos escritos por el escritor bostoniano, en absoluto a la altura de «Los crímenes de la calle Morgue».
= · = · = · = · = · = · = · =
This book talks about so many things it's ridiculous (I'll never get used to use the word "ridiculous" in even the slightest positive sense. In my mother tongue, which is Spanish, you don't say "ridículo" unless you go for the jugular). It's mainly a biography of Edgar Allan Poe and a journalistic style account of the murder of Mary Rogers, a young beauty much celebrated locally at the time. And, certainly, how both things converge in Poe writing "The mystery of Marie Rogêt". But on its way it also deals with, amongst other issues: newspapers in the XIX century and their emerging sensationalism; some historical considerations about New York at that time and the United States in general, such as how professional police departments weren't something widespread in USA at the time of Mary Rogers murder, and how they were not that efficient where they already existed; how Edgar Allan Poe set the bases for detective stories and even the true crime genre. All of this is stimulating, sure, and necessary to understand properly why Mary Rogers murder was relevant socially and for literature. But I can't help thinking that Daniel Stashower elaborates a little too much on every subject, and so the book tends to feel longish, and just interesting but not exactly thrilling.
The book closes with Poe's "The mystery of Marie Rogêt", which for my tastes is one of the most boring and rambling stories ever written by the Bostonian writer, not at all up to "The Murders in the Rue Morgue".
January 20, 2009
Mary Rogers (the Beautiful Cigar Girl of the title) worked at John Anderson’s Tobacco Emporium in 19th century Manhattan. She was quite famous at the time as well as the main attraction at the store. Mary went out one day and never came home -- as her family began to become distraught at her disappearance, her body was found floating in the Hudson. Newspapers of the time had a field day with the story -- each newspaper (in an era of fierce competition among journals) had its own information, its own take on the case, and fired up the imaginations of readers. This is one story in this book, which intertwines and ultimately meshes with the story of Edgar Allan Poe.
Poe is portrayed within these pages as a somewhat eccentric, bent-on-self-destruction individual. His great detective, Auguste Dupin, also captured the imaginations of readers with the case of Marie Roget, first serialized in a lady's magazine. Poe ultimately used all of the sources at hand regarding the Mary Rogers murder to put together his own fictional account, hoping to make a name for himself -- developing the elements of detective fiction in the process that would later be used by other authors, none the least of which was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The book is divided between Mary's story and that of Poe, and I think this structure works very well here.
But really what captured my interest here was neither Poe nor Rogers (though both had somewhat tragic lives) but the focus on the newspaper industry of the time. The New York newspapers reported constantly on the ineptitude of the existing police system & had enough influence to actually change the system. Unlike today, where the reporters were responsible for checking facts & sources (although, as we know, that doesn't always work), back then even a small rumor could end up on the front page as gospel fact to the journal's readers. Cases were often tried in the press; police were chastised for their lack of ability to get a handle on the crime of the day in ever-growing NYC.
All of these elements, plus a really good luck at NY culture of the time is what you're going to find here. I happen to be a fan of Daniel Stashower's writing and he didn't let me down with this book.
An interesting book; I can definitely recommend it to people interested in the history of New York, the history of journalism, Edgar Allan Poe, and unsolved murder cases. Beware -- there are no footnotes to note sources.
Poe is portrayed within these pages as a somewhat eccentric, bent-on-self-destruction individual. His great detective, Auguste Dupin, also captured the imaginations of readers with the case of Marie Roget, first serialized in a lady's magazine. Poe ultimately used all of the sources at hand regarding the Mary Rogers murder to put together his own fictional account, hoping to make a name for himself -- developing the elements of detective fiction in the process that would later be used by other authors, none the least of which was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The book is divided between Mary's story and that of Poe, and I think this structure works very well here.
But really what captured my interest here was neither Poe nor Rogers (though both had somewhat tragic lives) but the focus on the newspaper industry of the time. The New York newspapers reported constantly on the ineptitude of the existing police system & had enough influence to actually change the system. Unlike today, where the reporters were responsible for checking facts & sources (although, as we know, that doesn't always work), back then even a small rumor could end up on the front page as gospel fact to the journal's readers. Cases were often tried in the press; police were chastised for their lack of ability to get a handle on the crime of the day in ever-growing NYC.
All of these elements, plus a really good luck at NY culture of the time is what you're going to find here. I happen to be a fan of Daniel Stashower's writing and he didn't let me down with this book.
An interesting book; I can definitely recommend it to people interested in the history of New York, the history of journalism, Edgar Allan Poe, and unsolved murder cases. Beware -- there are no footnotes to note sources.
August 2, 2009
This is a quite enjoyable book about the murder of Mary Rogers and how Poe used the murder to write his short story "Marie Roget". It's an interesting book, not fascinating, but interesting.
Mary Rogers, the cigar of the title, was a woman who was murdered in New York. The story became headlines for the newspapers and the killer was never caught. Poe's short story, featuring Dupin, put forward a theory about the murder. In other words, Poe "ripped' stories from the headlines long before Law and Order.
Stashower does put forward what seems to be his own theory. He is careful, however, to point out that the mystery was never fully solved. Stashower also weighs the evidence and allows the reader to follow him to the conclusion, much in the same manner that he shows the reader Poe's thinking about the mystery.
Perhaps for the non-Poe or the non-English major, the discussion about Poe's changes to his story are over done, but I enjoyed them. Poe had to redraft the ending of his short story because of developments in the actual class. In many ways, the book is more about Mary Rogers than about Poe, so if you are looking for a straight Poe biography, this is not yet. While Stashower does present the bare facts of Poe's life, if you want a biography, you are better off reading Poe A Life Cut Short. Stashower includes a bibliography, but there are no footnotes or endnotes. Is this the new fad, I wonder?
Mary Rogers, the cigar of the title, was a woman who was murdered in New York. The story became headlines for the newspapers and the killer was never caught. Poe's short story, featuring Dupin, put forward a theory about the murder. In other words, Poe "ripped' stories from the headlines long before Law and Order.
Stashower does put forward what seems to be his own theory. He is careful, however, to point out that the mystery was never fully solved. Stashower also weighs the evidence and allows the reader to follow him to the conclusion, much in the same manner that he shows the reader Poe's thinking about the mystery.
Perhaps for the non-Poe or the non-English major, the discussion about Poe's changes to his story are over done, but I enjoyed them. Poe had to redraft the ending of his short story because of developments in the actual class. In many ways, the book is more about Mary Rogers than about Poe, so if you are looking for a straight Poe biography, this is not yet. While Stashower does present the bare facts of Poe's life, if you want a biography, you are better off reading Poe A Life Cut Short. Stashower includes a bibliography, but there are no footnotes or endnotes. Is this the new fad, I wonder?
August 28, 2008
Being a Poe enthusiast as well as a history and true crime buff, I have found this book fascinating. The author does a good job of telling two stories at the same time - first the story of Poe, his upbringing and his erratic behavior throughout his life and second the story of the beautiful and tragic Mary Rogers (the cigar girl). An interesting look at the police work of the time. Well worth reading.
June 15, 2012
Wow, what a powerful book. I had a very hard time putting this work down.
This book tells the story of Poe and Mary Rodgers murder.
This book is a must for Poe fans, those interested in 19th century Gotham, and 19th century true crime.
This book tells the story of Poe and Mary Rodgers murder.
This book is a must for Poe fans, those interested in 19th century Gotham, and 19th century true crime.
September 12, 2016
Sporadically interesting but mostly dull.
June 7, 2016
Part bio of Edgar Allen Poe, and part True Crime . I kept thinking that in the hands of Erik Larson or Simon Winchester this might flow better. But it might be that Poe kept repeating his sober to drunkness cycle leading to a feeling " I can skip that."section. Still informative about a forgotten part of New York history.
November 11, 2015
Anyone who has an interest in Edgar Allan Poe and/or historical true crime, as I do, will find this book interesting to read. It's nonfiction and chock full of facts, so it's a dry read compared to a novel, but well worth the effort.
July 23, 2018
A historical true crime book. In 1841, a young woman was killed and the case was unsolved. A few years later, Edgar Allan Poe decided to write a story about the case - "The Murder of Marie Roget." This book weaves between the story of Poe and the story of the unsolved murder. An interesting read.
July 29, 2018
Well that was a waste of three weeks. I can't blame the book for not revealing the true motive behind and events that caused Mary's death, since , the way it was presented was boring. Maybe I'm just not one for true crime stories in general though, this may very well be the case. It also didn't help that I had read
The Mystery of Marie Rogêt
quite recently and since Poe's story parallels the real case so much, I was mainly just reading a summary of things I already knew and didn't care much about. I was hoping for a big reveal, but there was none. Stashower does provide excellent summaries of Poe's stories though, so it is definitely accessible to people who haven't read any of Poe's works before.
Poe's story was anticlimactic and not at all ground-breaking; the same sadly goes for the real life case.
Poe's story was anticlimactic and not at all ground-breaking; the same sadly goes for the real life case.
November 16, 2008
When I purchased The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder, I was expecting something more along the line of The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl; that is historical fiction — fictional characters set against the backdrop of an historical story and setting.
The Beautiful Cigar Girl is Daniel Stashower’s (Teller of Tales) attempt to recount the story of Mary Rogers, a Manhattan tobacco store clerk whose mutilated corpse was discovered afloat in the Hudson River in the summer of 1841. Her death fueled a newspaper war and served as the basis for The Mystery of Marie Rogêt, a magazine serial by Edgar Allan Poe featuring C. Auguste Dupin, who first appeared as the detective who used “ratiocination” to solve the mystery in Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue. In his story, Poe rightly deduced that Marie, her demise modeled after Mary Rogers’, wasn’t a victim of gang violence, as the press and police believed. However, as evidence was discovered that Rogers may have instead died of a botched abortion, he had to amend his final installment to keep his reputation from being tarnished.
Stashower doesn’t attempt to solve the still unsolved mystery of Mary Rogers’ murder – we likely will never know the truth – but instead endeavors to recount the events surrounding her demise as well as the efforts to track down the perpetrator, or perpetrator’s, Poe’s own fascination with the murder, and the uncanny parallels of Poe’s and Rogers’ lives.
In an age prior to pin-up girls, striptease or pornography, Mary is depicted as perhaps America’s first sex symbol – as the Herald newspaper wrote, “Mary Rogers’s face was well known to all young men about town.” A popular T.V. show recently put forth: “We will never view women as equals until we view them as equals in death (a reference to women dying on the battlefield), and so Stashower succeeds in portraying the sensationalism Miss Roger’s death caused. Certainly had she been a he, her death would not have caused the stir it did, the story reaching as far as Philadelphia and Baltimore – both cities in which Poe resided. Yet many of the details of Mary’s life amount to conjecture and hearsay in comparison to what is commonly known of Poe’s self-destructive abuse of the bottle, poverty, love life and rants against publishers and fellow writers of the period. The title is misleading, as The Beautiful Cigar Girl – particularly in the final third, perhaps the result of Poe’s greater celebrity – reads more like a biography of his life. It was only as I neared the conclusion of The Beautiful Cigar Girl that I came to understand the “and the Invention of Murder” portion of the title as Poe having given birth to the modern detective story.
Stashower shows Poe as his own worst enemy. Despite his genius and a literary legacy that would go unrecognized until after his death at the age of 40, Poe forever portrayed himself a victim of lesser talents and those unable to recognize talent even as he continually sabotaged his own career.
If you’re expecting fast-paced historical fiction, you may be disappointed. However, as an account of life in New York City in the mid-nineteenth century – including the birth of the tabloid, the many gangs that instilled fear in the local population, a nearly non-existent police force made up of volunteers, and an inept coroner – the mystery surrounding a grisly murder the likes of which had never before been seen (think Criminal Minds), and a biography of one of this country’s greatest writers, I found The Beautiful Cigar Girl a fascinating read.
J. Conrad Guest for The Smoking Poet
The Beautiful Cigar Girl is Daniel Stashower’s (Teller of Tales) attempt to recount the story of Mary Rogers, a Manhattan tobacco store clerk whose mutilated corpse was discovered afloat in the Hudson River in the summer of 1841. Her death fueled a newspaper war and served as the basis for The Mystery of Marie Rogêt, a magazine serial by Edgar Allan Poe featuring C. Auguste Dupin, who first appeared as the detective who used “ratiocination” to solve the mystery in Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue. In his story, Poe rightly deduced that Marie, her demise modeled after Mary Rogers’, wasn’t a victim of gang violence, as the press and police believed. However, as evidence was discovered that Rogers may have instead died of a botched abortion, he had to amend his final installment to keep his reputation from being tarnished.
Stashower doesn’t attempt to solve the still unsolved mystery of Mary Rogers’ murder – we likely will never know the truth – but instead endeavors to recount the events surrounding her demise as well as the efforts to track down the perpetrator, or perpetrator’s, Poe’s own fascination with the murder, and the uncanny parallels of Poe’s and Rogers’ lives.
In an age prior to pin-up girls, striptease or pornography, Mary is depicted as perhaps America’s first sex symbol – as the Herald newspaper wrote, “Mary Rogers’s face was well known to all young men about town.” A popular T.V. show recently put forth: “We will never view women as equals until we view them as equals in death (a reference to women dying on the battlefield), and so Stashower succeeds in portraying the sensationalism Miss Roger’s death caused. Certainly had she been a he, her death would not have caused the stir it did, the story reaching as far as Philadelphia and Baltimore – both cities in which Poe resided. Yet many of the details of Mary’s life amount to conjecture and hearsay in comparison to what is commonly known of Poe’s self-destructive abuse of the bottle, poverty, love life and rants against publishers and fellow writers of the period. The title is misleading, as The Beautiful Cigar Girl – particularly in the final third, perhaps the result of Poe’s greater celebrity – reads more like a biography of his life. It was only as I neared the conclusion of The Beautiful Cigar Girl that I came to understand the “and the Invention of Murder” portion of the title as Poe having given birth to the modern detective story.
Stashower shows Poe as his own worst enemy. Despite his genius and a literary legacy that would go unrecognized until after his death at the age of 40, Poe forever portrayed himself a victim of lesser talents and those unable to recognize talent even as he continually sabotaged his own career.
If you’re expecting fast-paced historical fiction, you may be disappointed. However, as an account of life in New York City in the mid-nineteenth century – including the birth of the tabloid, the many gangs that instilled fear in the local population, a nearly non-existent police force made up of volunteers, and an inept coroner – the mystery surrounding a grisly murder the likes of which had never before been seen (think Criminal Minds), and a biography of one of this country’s greatest writers, I found The Beautiful Cigar Girl a fascinating read.
J. Conrad Guest for The Smoking Poet
January 2, 2016
Although I suspect Stashower may have cribbed from The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers: Sex and Culture in Nineteenth-Century New York in discussing Mary Rogers' genealogy (since this is a "popular" book, his citing of sources is sketchy at best), he has done--or has profited from someone else who has done--yeoman's labor in tracing the narrative of the crime and the investigation through the newspapers. He makes it very clear how randomly tacked-on the idea about a botched abortion was (even though he, too, seems to be somewhat swayed by it), and he addresses the thing that maddened me so about Srebnick's book: if Mary Rogers died of a botched abortion, why was she strangled? And she was strangled; Stashower does an excellent job of making that clear. He doesn't have answers, any more than anyone else, but (possibly because he himself has written mysteries) he is very good both at laying out the evidence in a coherent and comprehensible way and at articulating the questions and the way that the various theories either do or do not answer them.
This book is only half about Mary Rogers. The other half is about that self-destructive genius (and genius at self-destruction) Edgar Allan Poe, and his "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt." Stashower talks about Poe's career and his absurdly, tragically melodramatic personal life, and the way in which this particular story was both a serious attempt to prove Poe's theories about ratiocination and a shameless publicity stunt which very nearly got scuppered at the eleventh hour by the late-breaking botched abortion theory. Stashower lays out Poe's efforts at legerdemain in making his story fit popular opinion (not unlike twisting facts to suit theories), and does me a great service, thereby, because he explains one of the reasons why "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt," in its current form, is so unsatisfying. Poe's waffling neither actually rewrote the story to make the botched abortion theory the answer, nor held true to his original theory of the naval officer; it only made it harder to see what his theory was.
This book is only half about Mary Rogers. The other half is about that self-destructive genius (and genius at self-destruction) Edgar Allan Poe, and his "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt." Stashower talks about Poe's career and his absurdly, tragically melodramatic personal life, and the way in which this particular story was both a serious attempt to prove Poe's theories about ratiocination and a shameless publicity stunt which very nearly got scuppered at the eleventh hour by the late-breaking botched abortion theory. Stashower lays out Poe's efforts at legerdemain in making his story fit popular opinion (not unlike twisting facts to suit theories), and does me a great service, thereby, because he explains one of the reasons why "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt," in its current form, is so unsatisfying. Poe's waffling neither actually rewrote the story to make the botched abortion theory the answer, nor held true to his original theory of the naval officer; it only made it harder to see what his theory was.
November 2, 2011
Beyond the basic storyline of a beautiful girl mysteriously murdered in the 1840s, "The Beautiful Cigar Girl" offered a fascinating insight and history not only into Edgar Allen Poe--about whom I knew much too little--but about the creation of the real mystery novel. That Poe was an inspiration to none other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose Sherlock Holmes undoubtedly introduced many a reader to the notion of deductive reasoning (termed "ratiocination" by Poe), says plenty about the ground he was breaking in a heretofore unknown genre. Having read virtually all Holmes novels and short stories, the connection is unmistakable.
Stashower has obviously done no small amount in researching not only Poe but the murder that served as the template for perhaps his most renowned short story, delving into every account accessible before coming to his conclusion, which itself involves no small measure of detective work. That the story was covered by myriad New York City papers, each trying to be more sensational than the other, only lends to the seemingly infinite possibilities surrounding the means and motives of the girl's murder. Stashower's allegiance to the more formal and pedantic style of prose employed at the time only serves to heighten the drama.
Did Stashower come to any conclusions previously not proffered? If so, how? The answer to these questions alone makes "The Beautiful Cigar Girl" an engaging read.
Stashower has obviously done no small amount in researching not only Poe but the murder that served as the template for perhaps his most renowned short story, delving into every account accessible before coming to his conclusion, which itself involves no small measure of detective work. That the story was covered by myriad New York City papers, each trying to be more sensational than the other, only lends to the seemingly infinite possibilities surrounding the means and motives of the girl's murder. Stashower's allegiance to the more formal and pedantic style of prose employed at the time only serves to heighten the drama.
Did Stashower come to any conclusions previously not proffered? If so, how? The answer to these questions alone makes "The Beautiful Cigar Girl" an engaging read.
March 21, 2013
The murder of Marie Rogers stunned America. Her lifestyle was shocking - a woman working as a cashier was considered about one step away from prostitution. She gained more notoriety when she mysteriously disappeared, and returned without explanation. Years later, she was found brutally murdered, and despite hopes of a quick resolution, the mystery festered for years. Her death inspired many people. It propelled a change in journalism, as one newspaper editor discovered it gained him far more subscribers if he reported controversy rather than the straight-forward facts. It emphasized the weak nature of the police force, as they struggled to decide who was even in charge of investigation. The murder inspired songs, portraits, novels, gossip and much more.
Most of all, it gave hope to Edgar Allan Poe. Hoping to regain credibility in the publishing community, he jumped on a brilliant plan. He was going to solve the murder with only the aid of the newspaper reports at the time.
This book was fascinating. If you like Erik Larsen, you'll enjoy this. I particularly liked how quote-heavy this book was (which is funny that this stuck out as a good thing to me, because other reviews I've read hated that aspect. To each their own I guess!), partly because I was reading this book in tandem with another non-fiction book which hardly quotes anything at all. The quotations really brought the people to life, and made me trust the author's views that much more. Highly recommended.
Most of all, it gave hope to Edgar Allan Poe. Hoping to regain credibility in the publishing community, he jumped on a brilliant plan. He was going to solve the murder with only the aid of the newspaper reports at the time.
This book was fascinating. If you like Erik Larsen, you'll enjoy this. I particularly liked how quote-heavy this book was (which is funny that this stuck out as a good thing to me, because other reviews I've read hated that aspect. To each their own I guess!), partly because I was reading this book in tandem with another non-fiction book which hardly quotes anything at all. The quotations really brought the people to life, and made me trust the author's views that much more. Highly recommended.
June 10, 2017
In many ways, the killing of Mary Rogers in July of 1841 was the first great media murder. Known throughout Manhattan for her striking beauty and "dark smile", the 20-year-old former cigar store clerk's horribly mutilated body was found floating in the Hudson River three days after she left her boarding house ostensibly to visit her aunt. The murder created a feeding frenzy among the city's newspapers which caught the attention of a struggling writer by the name of Edgar Allan Poe. Cutting back and forth between the Rogers investigation and Poe's life, author Daniel Stashower gradually brings his two subjects together, creating a powerful portrait of Poe along the way. The newspaper accounts would eventually inspire Poe to write The Mystery of Marie Roget featuring his iconic character, C. Auguste Dupin. Due to the ineptness and disarray of the New York City police force, the young woman's murder was never solved, although Stashower offers a compelling, possible solution at the end of the book. Haunting and atmospheric, this is a masterful historical work.The sad lives of Rogers and Poe will stay with the reader for a long time.
February 12, 2009
It wasn't really that great and it went on a lot of differnt tangants. From the back of the book I thought it was how two different people who didn't know each other crossed paths into each others lives much like Thunderstruck or Devil in the White City, but it wasn't. Unfortunately if you compared the books they paled in my many ways.
The book lack flow and I don't know how Poe ever lived because he seemed like he was drunk all the time. He was described as a pure alcoholic with serious problems. You really didn't like the guy reading about him and there were only a few good parts in the first 200 pages. The last 100 pages were better especially with Poe's "fiction" story about the Cigar Girl, but then it got a little confusing in the timeline as it went from past then the present the future it seemed. Towards the end I just wanted it to end.
It was a very hard read to finish. I saw it all over the bookstores on sale and I got it for $5 at a used bookstore and probably paid $4 too much for it.
I don't recommend.
The book lack flow and I don't know how Poe ever lived because he seemed like he was drunk all the time. He was described as a pure alcoholic with serious problems. You really didn't like the guy reading about him and there were only a few good parts in the first 200 pages. The last 100 pages were better especially with Poe's "fiction" story about the Cigar Girl, but then it got a little confusing in the timeline as it went from past then the present the future it seemed. Towards the end I just wanted it to end.
It was a very hard read to finish. I saw it all over the bookstores on sale and I got it for $5 at a used bookstore and probably paid $4 too much for it.
I don't recommend.
July 20, 2013
In this work Daniel Stashower explores how the 1841 murder of New York City's famed "beautiful cigar girl," Mary Rogers, inspired Edgar Allan Poe to write his second C. Auguste Dupin story, "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt." This is neither a comprehensive biography of Poe nor an exhaustive account of the Rogers tragedy. Instead, the book provides enough information on both to give context to its true focus, how (and why) Poe's fictional case of "Marie Rogêt" reimagined and responded to the real case of Mary Rogers while the latter was still unfolding. I recommend this to anyone who is interested in the "story behind the story" of "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" and/or the relationship between early detective fiction and the historical crimes that influenced the genre.
June 19, 2009
Explanation of how and why Edgar Allan Poe based one of his stories on an actual crime.
I am grateful to this author for teaching me the expression "Let's liquor," which he says was in common usage in the 1840s. No wonder Poe had troubles with alcohol.
It's always interesting to learn about the daily lives of people in another time and place. I was surprised that hiring a young, pretty woman to serve as a clerk in a cigar store was considered scandalous, yet one of the bartenders questioned during the investigation could not testify in court because HE WAS TWELVE YEARS OLD. (His mother testified on his behalf.)
Stashower has also written a Conan Doyle bio and several mysteries.
I am grateful to this author for teaching me the expression "Let's liquor," which he says was in common usage in the 1840s. No wonder Poe had troubles with alcohol.
It's always interesting to learn about the daily lives of people in another time and place. I was surprised that hiring a young, pretty woman to serve as a clerk in a cigar store was considered scandalous, yet one of the bartenders questioned during the investigation could not testify in court because HE WAS TWELVE YEARS OLD. (His mother testified on his behalf.)
Stashower has also written a Conan Doyle bio and several mysteries.
November 2, 2021
I was looking through my Overdrive wishlist when I found this! A true crime story plus author biography mashup sounded interesting, especially since I enjoyed The Man Who Would Be Sherlock. In The Beautiful Cigar Girl, Stashower takes the reader through the murder of Mary Rogers and the literary career of Edgar Allen Poe.
Mary Rogers was famous for being beautiful and worked at a tobacco shop run by John Anderson. She was the talk of the town and her disappearance in 1838 made waves. Three years later, Mary lied to her fiance about where she was going and was later found dead in the Hudson River. Was she killed by a gang of thugs? Was her death due to a botched abortion? Many theories abound but the truth has never been found.
Both the case of Mary Rogers and the life of Edgar Allen Poe are interesting, but because they didn’t really intersect, the two stories never really came together. Poe may have written about the murder and have a lot riding on its success, but he wasn’t actively involved in it, the way Doyle was involved in George Edjali’s case, and I think that is why the book feels like two stories tied together by an epilogue rather than one story exploring the idea of art drawing from real life.
Another thing that the book missed was the opportunity to look at how Mary Roger’s death was exploited by pretty much all the papers and Poe. Given that Poe literally wrote a story based on her murder and tried to solve it in order to start his literary journal and achieve success, it would have been fascinating to consider why people felt so comfortable using her death as a way to gain and what the ethical implications of it were. I mean, I can definitely think about this issue on my own, but it would have been nice to have the book kickstart the discussion and I think that would have tied the two parts of the book together.
Overall, The Beautiful Cigar Girl had two interesting stories, but unfortunately did not manage to weave them into one account. Most of Poe’s career was unrelated to Mary Rogers, which made the first half of the book feel choppy as we went from Mary’s story to Poe’s career and back. However, if you’re interested in both literature and the true crime genre, you may find this to be an interesting book to read.
This review was first posted at Eustea Reads
Mary Rogers was famous for being beautiful and worked at a tobacco shop run by John Anderson. She was the talk of the town and her disappearance in 1838 made waves. Three years later, Mary lied to her fiance about where she was going and was later found dead in the Hudson River. Was she killed by a gang of thugs? Was her death due to a botched abortion? Many theories abound but the truth has never been found.
Both the case of Mary Rogers and the life of Edgar Allen Poe are interesting, but because they didn’t really intersect, the two stories never really came together. Poe may have written about the murder and have a lot riding on its success, but he wasn’t actively involved in it, the way Doyle was involved in George Edjali’s case, and I think that is why the book feels like two stories tied together by an epilogue rather than one story exploring the idea of art drawing from real life.
Another thing that the book missed was the opportunity to look at how Mary Roger’s death was exploited by pretty much all the papers and Poe. Given that Poe literally wrote a story based on her murder and tried to solve it in order to start his literary journal and achieve success, it would have been fascinating to consider why people felt so comfortable using her death as a way to gain and what the ethical implications of it were. I mean, I can definitely think about this issue on my own, but it would have been nice to have the book kickstart the discussion and I think that would have tied the two parts of the book together.
Overall, The Beautiful Cigar Girl had two interesting stories, but unfortunately did not manage to weave them into one account. Most of Poe’s career was unrelated to Mary Rogers, which made the first half of the book feel choppy as we went from Mary’s story to Poe’s career and back. However, if you’re interested in both literature and the true crime genre, you may find this to be an interesting book to read.
This review was first posted at Eustea Reads
May 16, 2024
1/2 biography of Edgar Allen Poe and 1/2 true crime story of the 1841 unsolved murder of a young woman in New York.
September 4, 2016
This book was really something. I’ve never read anything quite like it. It was information overload in both a good, and slightly bad, way for me. With that, I am thankful the author wrote this book and really thankful I came across it!
It’s a story during the 1800’s in New York City with three threads melded together: Mary Rogers (unsolved murder) – Edgar Allan Poe bio – and the Newspapers frenzy feeding over Mary Rogers – The Beautiful Cigar Girl - and flipping the switch from facts in print to speculation in order to help fuel the fire to get information, any information, into the hands of the consumer. Everyone was hungry for daily information.
I hadn’t heard of Mary Rogers. I haven’t read Edgar Allan Poe works (namely poems) since high school and “Marie Roget” is not a book I had read or even heard about. I basically knew nothing of the history of newspapers. I was quite fascinated with this book but I had bumps in the road with the newspaper collisions information overload. Press on, if you get discouraged like me, as you really do want to finish this book. It’s captivating and the author gets “Two Thumbs Up! Way Up” for his literary research.
In the end, I want to know what happened to Mary Rogers. I want Edgar Allan Poe to “shape up” and have a shining glimpse into his forthcoming prominence in the literary world. I get the consumer frenzy of newsprint after 9/11. I was one of the frenzied consumers. Give me information and give it to me now! Oh, and any information will do under duress, right?
It’s a story during the 1800’s in New York City with three threads melded together: Mary Rogers (unsolved murder) – Edgar Allan Poe bio – and the Newspapers frenzy feeding over Mary Rogers – The Beautiful Cigar Girl - and flipping the switch from facts in print to speculation in order to help fuel the fire to get information, any information, into the hands of the consumer. Everyone was hungry for daily information.
I hadn’t heard of Mary Rogers. I haven’t read Edgar Allan Poe works (namely poems) since high school and “Marie Roget” is not a book I had read or even heard about. I basically knew nothing of the history of newspapers. I was quite fascinated with this book but I had bumps in the road with the newspaper collisions information overload. Press on, if you get discouraged like me, as you really do want to finish this book. It’s captivating and the author gets “Two Thumbs Up! Way Up” for his literary research.
In the end, I want to know what happened to Mary Rogers. I want Edgar Allan Poe to “shape up” and have a shining glimpse into his forthcoming prominence in the literary world. I get the consumer frenzy of newsprint after 9/11. I was one of the frenzied consumers. Give me information and give it to me now! Oh, and any information will do under duress, right?
May 31, 2012
The Beautiful Cigar Girl is a literary and historical study of Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Murder of Marie Roget." Poe's story is a retelling (and re-setting to Paris) of the murder of Marie Rogers in New York City in 1841. This famous crime was the subject of many newspaper stories covered extensively by the rabid press of the time. For a long time the resolution of the crime was unsatisfactory. Several years later Poe (chronically short of money) comes along and writes his story proposing to solve the crime. His account is published in three installments. Just days before the third installment is to be published, new facts in the case come to light. How will Poe respond...since he has guaranteed a solution.
The book weaves between the literary life of Poe and the actual crime. I believe it is best to read Poe's story first to see how well you think his detective, Dupin, identifies the clues and deduces the nature and cause of the murder.
I found this book a lively addition to my reading of Poe's detective stories. It shows that in some ways Poe was ahead of the police work (and certainly the newspapers) in understanding the clues and in which direction they pointed. The story of the "story" is almost as interesting as the story of the crime.
Read for book discussion taking place on 6/5/12.
The book weaves between the literary life of Poe and the actual crime. I believe it is best to read Poe's story first to see how well you think his detective, Dupin, identifies the clues and deduces the nature and cause of the murder.
I found this book a lively addition to my reading of Poe's detective stories. It shows that in some ways Poe was ahead of the police work (and certainly the newspapers) in understanding the clues and in which direction they pointed. The story of the "story" is almost as interesting as the story of the crime.
Read for book discussion taking place on 6/5/12.
August 26, 2009
As has been said before, this book has a fantastic but misleading title.
It's not about the invention of murder because:
1) murder was invented long before 1841
2) Poe didn't invent murder - Poe never murdered anybody (except perhaps himself)
3) Poe is credited with inventing the murder mystery story, but that was with Murder In The Rue Morgue which comes before The Mystery of Marie Roget.
This book is about how Poe wrote The Mystery of Marie Roget based on the real life case of Mary Rogers, the "beautiful cigar girl."
You get all sorts of background on Poe's life, as well as Mary Rogers' and the time they lived in.
Back in the day, the "solution" to the case was believed to be that Mary Rogers had been the victim of a botched abortion. I'm thinking "botched" is an understatement, since the person was at the wrong end of her body (she was strangled so tightly the cord embedded in her neck, and her face beaten).
I would have liked more theories as to what really happened, but the book is more about the literary and journalistic response of the time, and in that it does an excellent job.
It's not about the invention of murder because:
1) murder was invented long before 1841
2) Poe didn't invent murder - Poe never murdered anybody (except perhaps himself)
3) Poe is credited with inventing the murder mystery story, but that was with Murder In The Rue Morgue which comes before The Mystery of Marie Roget.
This book is about how Poe wrote The Mystery of Marie Roget based on the real life case of Mary Rogers, the "beautiful cigar girl."
You get all sorts of background on Poe's life, as well as Mary Rogers' and the time they lived in.
Back in the day, the "solution" to the case was believed to be that Mary Rogers had been the victim of a botched abortion. I'm thinking "botched" is an understatement, since the person was at the wrong end of her body (she was strangled so tightly the cord embedded in her neck, and her face beaten).
I would have liked more theories as to what really happened, but the book is more about the literary and journalistic response of the time, and in that it does an excellent job.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 2, 2009
Shashower attempts to make a personal link between Poe and Mary Rogers, but within the first pages he admits there's nothing to back up that idea: they simply lived in NYC at the same time and people Poe knew did shop at the store where Rogers worked. Link aside, he can prove that Poe's sequal to "The Murder in the Rue Morge", "The Murder of Marie Roget", was based on a true crime, because there are documents that prove he was writing his story in an attempt to prove that his detective could solve the crime when the real police could not. That aspect of the story is quite interesting, even allowing the Stashower is guessing at Poe's thought process. However, the book is written in such a chunky manner, divided between the real crime and investigation and Poe's life and writing that it's a dull, almost academic read. Readers not familiar with Poe's life will probably get more out of the story than someone who's read a few of the many biographies out there, although the lack of footnotes makes for a questionable biography.
August 1, 2019
I picked up this Berkley softback five or six years ago. I bought it brand new for a pricey 21 dollars, and just got around to reading it. It has been sitting safely on one of my bookshelves. I mention the price and storage because the pages were unbelievably coming right out of the book as I read it. Hopefully Stashower doesn't do anything else with Berkley, because I won't be buying another one of their books. That said, Stashower is a favorite of mine- I've read a few of his and have liked them all. This little investigation of a murder in 1841 and the Edgar Poe short story based on it, was well researched and warmly written. I have read quite a bit of Poe over the years, and was disappointed to find out that he was his own worst enemy, along with the enemy of just about everyone with whom he came in contact. Still good reading though, and at times hard to put down. If you enjoy mystery, or Poe, or true crime, read the book if you can find it. Just make sure you keep the pages in order after they fall out into your hands.
November 11, 2021
It's a neat trick to convince the reader early on how flawed a person Poe was, then yet still get that same reader to root for him by the end. Beautifully imperfect, and studiously human. Poe's desperate attempts to make his fiction match reality likely mirror all authors' attempts at revision and the search for perfection. I've come away with a deeper understanding, appreciation, and yet... dissatisfaction with Poe as a person. The story of Mary Rogers also has in it shades of the early abortion system in the US during the 1800s that still hold importance to this day.
A damn good book.
A damn good book.
June 20, 2022
This was a fascinating story, and I like how the stories of the murder victim and Poe are woven separately and then intertwine. But after that, the second half of the book seems overly redundant. I felt like I was reading the same theories and accounts over and over but from a slightly different source. It was harder to read the second half. But I did like learning about the case AND learning a lot more about Poe.
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