C. Auguste Dupin Collection: The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of Marie Roget and The Purloined Letter

C. Auguste Dupin #1-3

by Edgar Allan Poe, Aubrey Beardsley (Illustrator), Harry Clarke (Illustrator)

Decades before Sherlock Holmes, American author Edgar Allan Poe created the detective story in this remarkable trilogy of short stories featuring genius French criminologist C. Auguste Dupin.

'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' and its sequel 'The Mystery of Marie Roget' represent the beginning of crime fiction and each story has been hailed as a masterpiece. In 'Morgue' the Parisian detective investigates the savage murder of a mother and daughter. In the follow-up, Dupin is on the hunt of a killer in a case based on the true story of Mary Rogers, a saleswoman at a cigar store in Manhattan whose body was found floating in the Hudson River in 1841.

'The Purloined Letter' first appeared in 'The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1845,' in December, 1844. Poe earned $12 for its first printing. It is now considered one of the greatest short stories ever written.

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Genres: Classics, Mystery, Fiction, Short Stories, Horror, Crime, Mystery Thriller

106 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1844

About the author

The name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry.

Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.

The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three of Edgar Allan Poe's chilling mysteries are being republished here, I read all three some time ago but it was fascinating to reacquaint myself with them now, Poe is often credited with beginning the detective genre, inspiring the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle with his famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. It will not take long to read these relatively short stories, it provides a wonderful opportunity for those who have never read them to become aware of these classic tales. The three Paris mysteries are The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of Marie Roget and The Purloined Letter, my favourite is The Murders at the Rue Morgue, and it's likely to be the one most readers are familiar, rather macabre, and the perpetrator is well known in crime fiction. The detective investigating is Monsieur Chevalier Auguste Dupin, with his distinctly puzzle solving approach. These are engaging and descriptive tales, particularly recommended if you have never read Edgar Allan Poe, Many thanks to Pushkin Press for an ARC.

[Sean Barrs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sherlock Holmes you’re a selfish bastard.

Do you know why?

You ruined this story for me. Damn you Sherlock! No I’m just kidding. I think you’re great really Sherlock. It’s only because of your greatness that this story was weak. But, I did want to enjoy it. I suppose it’s not your fault really, your creator did take Poe’s idea and make it much better. You just came along for the ride.

Okay, so let’s get serious. A lot of writers owe a lot to Edgar Allan Poe. This work helped to define the detective story, this may be so, but other writers certainly made it better. For me, Poe is at his finest when he is entrenched in the world of darkness, horror and the maddening wired. He is a great gothic writer, but I don’t think he is great with detective stories. Well, at least not with this one. These stories may get better, but as for the first in the series, this was rather average. What! Poe average? Yes average. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes makes this look shockingly weak. It begins with a series of murders. The first being a decapitated old woman, I actually laughed out loud when I read this; it just seemed so comical:

“After a thorough investigation of every portion of the house without further discovery, the party made its way into a small yard in the rear of the building, where lay the corpse of the old lady, with her throat so entirely cut that, upon an attempt to raise her, the head fell off.”

See what I mean? Or is it just me?

The detectives have no idea how to approach the case; they are, in essence, rather clueless. They use the same tried and tested method, which means they are reluctant to adapt to new circumstances. This case requires creativity; it requires a little flair and outside thinking. It requires a new, if slightly abstract approach. This is where Dupin comes in. He is the character that inspired Holmes, but for all Homles’ rational deduction, Dupin’s observations felt tentative and obscure. I really think Holmes could teach him a thing or two about detective work. He is creative, and he uses acute perception like Holmes, though his findings just aren’t as clever.

I’m being a little unfair here. Sherlock may be a better character, but Dupin does have determination in a very high degree. He does have a powerful drive to see the job done:

Dupin seemed singularly interested in the progress of this affair- at least so I judged form his manner, for he made no comments. It was only after the announcement that Le Bon had been imprisoned, that he asked me my opinion regarding the murders.

And that’s exactly what he does; he, in his stoic manner, with the help of the narrator, solves the crime. The end is quite clever, I’ll give it that, but what it really lacks is personality. Dupin is dull, so very dull. He is colourless. Beyond his touchy detective skills there is very little character. Again, I can’t help but compare him to the enigmatic Sherlock. Now that’s a character. Sherlock appears reckless, and sometimes even self-destructive, but the man always knows the outcome before the case has begun. All danger has already been weighed. Doesn’t he just sound more interesting than Dupin?

This did pretty much create an entire genre. That’s an astonishing achievement. But, I still found the story to be a little mundane. For me, it didn’t have any intensity. I had to make myself finish it. Sherlock would chew up Dupin and spit him back out again before he had a chance to even get to the crime scene. As much as it pains me to rate a Poe story two stars, there is nothing else to be done.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Includes Poe's three Dupin short stories – “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt,” and “The Purloined Letter.”

And, well, Poe was definitely a believer in the Victorian philosophy of “why use one word when eight will do?” There were so. many. words. that added absolutely nothing to their respective plots.

Dupin was basically an early Sherlock Holmes, and it's obvious where Arthur Conan Doyle got his inspiration from. I think Doyle did it better, honestly, but you've got to give credit to Poe for writing the first modern detective stories.

These are not exciting, action-packed adventures and the writing certainly isn't concise, but they were mildly amusing. I'm kind of mad about the conclusion to “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt,” though – it was my favorite of the bunch right up until its lame-o non-ending.

Still, if you're a Poe fan, these tales are probably worth a read. They lack the brilliance of his horror stories, but they are rather interesting pieces of literary history.

[Exina · Rating 5 out of 5]

“An inquiry will afford us amusement…”

The Murders in the Rue Morgue is considered the first detective fiction story. Poe's early detective fiction tales featuring C. Auguste Dupin laid the groundwork for future detectives in literature. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said, "Each [of Poe's detective stories] is a root from which a whole literature has developed... Where was the detective story until Poe breathed the breath of life into it?"
The character of Dupin became the prototype for many future fictional detectives, including Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. (source: Wikipedia)

I read this story first in high school later in college. I remember I didn’t like it first, but later I learned to appreciate it.



An unknown narrator tells how he met and befriended Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin in Paris, and how Dupin solved an extraordinary crime.

"Truth is not always in a well. In fact, as regards the more important knowledge, I do believe that she is invariably superficial. The depth lies in the valleys where we seek her, and not upon the mountain-tops where she is found."

The story is creepy enough, the writing style is engaging (What else? It’s Poe…), and the solution is the triumph of the analytic mind.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are very few people with any knowledge of literature who have not heard of the character Sherlock Holmes. Beloved by readers for over a century, Conan Doyle crafted a pompous and overly confident detective that always seems to be on the trail of even the cleverest criminals. But this review is not about Sherlock Holmes. It is about the man who is responsible for influencing the creator of this character. His name is Auguste Dupin, a Frenchman. This detective created by Edgar Allan Poe appears in only three short stories but these stories really pack a punch and offer a very satisfying introduction to the detective fiction genre.

Poe’s writing here is complex. Although these stories appear short they should be read slowly and require a little more concentration as usual because these stories (Murders in the Rue Morgue, Mystery of Marie Roget, and the Purloined Letter) feature very little action and are more of a discussion of the science of deductive reasoning. Although this is not for everybody, I believe Poe really shows off his literary genius here and can take credit for creating the entire mystery genre.

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's absolutely no point in going over the plots of these three stories. You have a computer, or you wouldn't be reading this review. Google the plots if you're in any doubt about what these three tales have in store for you.

I'll tell you, instead of a book report, that I downloaded the Digital Review Copy of this book wondering what would make the edition "Deluxe." There's nothing like a critical essay included here; the DRC isn't really that exciting typographically speaking; the footnotes of then-commonly-understood Latin phrases are, I *think*, in the original texts. Many now-common terms like "tibia" and "acumen" are italicized (and still other words are italicized for emphasis, Poe makes the difference very obvious) after the fashion of the 1840s when they first appeared; as Poe was busily inventing the detective (a word not coined until after Poe's death)-centered mystery model, one is prepared to forgive the spelling of "clew."

It is a hardcover edition; it is, judging from the photo below

a truly lovely object to hold and behold. The only luxe touch that it lacks is the elegance of deckled edges on the book block.

The other worthy-of-mention luxury in this edition is learning from Chevalier Auguste Dupin the genesis of ratiocination as a basis for criminology. The idea of professional policing was *scarcely* a century old at this point; the Bow Street Runners in London forming the first ever paid professional police force under the Blind Beak, Sir John Fielding, under whose stern guidance the semi-thieving days of the watch were ended at last. Dupin, then, as a logical and observant man of Justice's retinue, would've been a rare bird indeed in a time when the Law caught whoever "everyone knew" had killed the deady and he was punished. Observation being the absolute key contribution of Dupin to detective fiction:

The history of human knowledge has so uninterruptedly shown that to collateral, or incidental, or accidental events we are indebted for the most numerous and most valuable discoveries, that it has at length become necessary, in any prospective view of improvement, to make not only large, but the largest allowances for inventions that shall arise by chance, and quite out of the range of ordinary expectation.

So, if you ever wondered where the inspiration for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation came from, it's here. The presence of mildew (italics in original), the hiding of a body in a place it wasn't murdered but is calculated to be discovered in a particular manner and/or at a particular time...all that in 1840s Paris, via the imagination of M. Edgar Poe! And his creation Dupin predates the formal coining of the word "detective" by almost a decade, this honor going to Chuckles the Dick in 1850. Much as I hate to give ol' Chuckles any positive credit, this is an incontrovertible, evidence-based citation. Ick. It hurts to praise someone for inventing an excellent word when that someone is responsible for some of the lowest moments of one's reading life.

Still...there it is. Facts are, dammit anyway, facts.

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

B.R.A.CE. 2018 Ένα βιβλίο με όπλο στο εξώφυλλο ή στο τίτλο (περίστροφο, σχοινί, πριόνι, μαχαίρι, κτλ)

Το μυθιστόρημα που τα ξεκίνησε όλα! Τι καταπληκτικό μυαλό ήταν που δημιούργησε αυτές τις ιστορίες;

[Alp Turgut · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kendinden sonraki bir sürü dedektif öyküsüne ilham kaynağı olan "Dedektif Auguste Dupin Öyküleri / The Dupin Tales"ı okurken kitabı doğal olarak Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle’un "Sherlock Holmes"uyla karşılaştırmadan edemedim. İlk hikayesiyle her ne kadar ilgi çekici bir okuma keyfi sunsa da Edgar Allan Poe’nun ne yazık ki dedektif hikayeleri için ideal bir yazar olduğunu düşünmüyorum. En azından "Sherlock Holmes"un olduğu bir dünyada "Dedektif Dupin" yanında epey zayıf kalıyor. Yine de yazarın ne kadar yetenekli olduğunu satır aralarında görmek mümkün. Poe’nun meşhur gotik atmosferini ilk hikaye dışındaki hikayelerde bulamasam da yazarı severler ve dedektif romanlarındaki süreci daha iyi anlamak isteyenler mutlaka göz atmalı.

07.07.2017
İstanbul, Türkiye

Alp Turgut

http://www.filmdoktoru.com/kitap-labo...

[Duane Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more of a mystery than a tale of horror, and even though C. Auguste Dupin is intriguing, he doesn't quite have the flair and style of Sherlock Holmes. Still very good though. I am reading through a collection of his short tales.

[Simona B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poe's Auguste Dupin is known as the first proper fictional detective in literary history, and, may I say, only his being the first can justify his lengthy, pedantic, self-satisfied harangues. The middle story, The Mystery of Marie Rogêt, is the weakest, narratively speaking, of the three, though no doubt it makes for a wonderful essay either on state-of-the-art methods of detection, on language processing, or on contemporary journalism.
While I've certainly read more entertaining detective stories, Dupin's are a one-of-a-kind piece of work; he may not be one of my favourites, but if that of the favourites wasn't a somewhat exclusive category, then they wouldn't be called favourites at all.

[Daisy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s lucky Poe was long dead by the time Sherlock Holmes was published otherwise I think Conan-Doyle would have had a lawsuit on his hands. The premise is almost identical, a narrator close to the detective narrates events often asking, on behalf of the reader, to explain how the great mind deduced the truth in a mystery that has perplexed everyone. We have policemen who have explored all other avenues and have had to entreat Dupin to help them which of course he does and solves the case by noticing and connecting things that had previously been overlooked.
Respect is due for it being the first detective novel but I am sure there are numerous examples of an idea being taken wholesale and improved so that it ends up better than the original, I can’t think of any right now but imagine I did – that’s what I’m likening this to.
Dupin was not a very interesting character and I couldn’t get along with the endless newspaper articles being used as a device to explain the crime and subsequent investigation up to the point Dupin becomes involved. Another negative was the inconclusive ending of the Marie Roget tale.
Glad I read it as a piece of literary history but didn’t love it as a piece of fiction in its own right.

[Nancy Oakes]

Oh dear. With this book I have once again become that fish swimming against the tide of opinions of practically everyone else who's read these three stories contained in this book, the sum total of Poe's Dupin stories. While I get their importance in the history of detective/crime fiction, quite frankly, this book bored me silly. I love Poe's gothic/supernatural-ish works to be sure; his somewhat cryptic Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym was weird but kept me flipping pages, but I just can't stand Auguste Dupin nor do I care for Poe's writing here.

First in this collection is the blockbuster "Murders in the Rue Morgue," followed by "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt," and last comes "The Purloined Letter." All of these stories reflect Dupin's method of "ratinocination, a cerebral method of combining intellect, logic, imagination and the transference of self into the mind of the criminal," (7), and I sort of get it in the first and last stories, but what killed me was reading "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt." Evidently, Poe's logic behind writing it was that he wanted to tackle the real-life case of the murder of Mary Cecilia Rogers; as he notes,

"The extraordinary details which I am now called upon to make public, will be found to form, as regards sequence of time, the primary branch of a series of scarcely intelligible coincidences, whose secondary or concluding branch will be recognized by all readers in the late murder of Mary Cecilia Rogers, at New York." (54)

In all three of these tales, it's Dupin's thought process that solves the crimes -- other than a brief visit to the crime scene in "Murders of the Rue Morgue" and a short visit to the home of the known thief in "The Purloined Letter," Dupin turns out to be the epitome of the armchair detective, letting his mind do all of the work. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's the way these tales are written that made me wish I'd saved the book for a night of trying to battle insomnia. Don't get me wrong -- I'm very used to reading nineteenth-century prose, and if I could survive Bulwer-Lytton's writing in Eugene Aram, well, Poe should have been a cakewalk. However, "Marie Rogêt" just about did me in and in "The Purloined Letter," I counted a five-page rundown of "the particulars" of a search made by the Prefect of the Parisian police. Five pages just noting every potential hiding place for the missing letter -- that's just uncalled for, really.

But, as I said, readers seem to love this book, so it's probably me.

I'd say give it a try simply because of its place in crime/mystery/detective fiction history -- now I can say been there, done that, and bought the T-shirt. Not one of my favorites at all this year.

[Dagio_maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

” Chi possiede spiccate facoltà analitiche raccoglie nel silenzio una grande massa di osservazioni e di deduzioni. Può essere che i suoi compagni di gioco facciano lo stesso, ma la differenza sta non tanto nella validità della deduzione, quanto nella qualità dell’osservazione. Importante è sapere “cosa” occorre osservare.”

Tre brillanti racconti che fanno da apripista al genere poliziesco:
I delitti della Rue Morgue (1841), Il mistero di Marie Rogêt (1842- largamente ispirato ad un delitto avvenuto a New York e nella storia traslato a Parigi) e La lettera rubata (1845)

Auguste Dupin non ha bisogno di spianare le armi o fare azioni eclatanti. Con la sola forza dell’analisi raccoglie i pezzi e restituisce un senso a ciò che appare esserne sprovvisto.
L’obiettivo è quello di portare alla luce una verità che sembra nascosta ma poi appare lampante.
Senza Dupin, Sherlock avrebbe potuto dire «Elementare Watson»?

[Marianna Neal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Credit where credit is due: Edgar Allan Poe invented detective fiction, and it's crazy to think he actually started a whole new, insanely popular genre. Agatha Christie clearly was beyond inspired. That being said, the genre has progressed and evolved a lot since then, and I will admit, these Dupin tales just don't hold up quite as well anymore, though they are still enjoyable and charming.

[Jonfaith · Rating 3 out of 5]

'That is another of your odd notions,' said the Prefect, who had a fashion of calling everything 'odd' that was beyond his comprehension, and thus lived amid an absolute legion of 'oddities.'

As noted this was life preserver book, bought for loose change and kept in my truck for just such an occasion. Poe's Dupin stories are cerebral but not charming. There is little here of atmosphere nor much banter. Upon reflection, there isn't much humanity at all on display. These are exercises, examples of a methodology. It is easy to see how compelling Dupin's improbable genius was to readers. The allure continues to our own jaded days. Note to self: all days have been jaded.

[Eon Windrunner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick and gruesome read, this story is as wordy as can be and not exactly featuring accessible vocabulary due to it's age, but I enjoyed it nonetheless and it's easy to see how this is the precursor to many of the more modern detective stories and characters that are household names today.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to read Poe's Dupin stories after reading this exchange between Watson and Sherlock Holmes in A Study in Scarlet:

"It is simple enough as you explain it," I said, smiling. "You remind me of Edgar Allen Poe's Dupin. I had no idea that such individuals did exist outside of stories."

Sherlock Holmes rose and lit his pipe. "No doubt you think that you are complimenting me in comparing me to Dupin," he observed. "Now, in my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow. That trick of his of breaking in on his friends' thoughts with an apropos remark after a quarter of an hour's silence is really very showy and superficial. He had some analytical genius, no doubt; but he was by no means such a phenomenon as Poe appeared to imagine."

I cannot look at this compilation as one cohesive work, as each of the three stories -- 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue', 'The Mystery of Marie Roget', and 'The Purloined Letter' -- are written in different styles with different themes, linked only by the presence of Dupin and the unnamed narrator. As such, I will comment on and rate each story individually.

'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' was easily the most entertaining of the three. While imperfect, it is the prototypical detective story on which all others are based, and still managed to be an engaging read over a century and a half after it was written. The biggest flaw is that the solution to the murders is a) rather absurd and b) incapable of being surmised by the reader before it is revealed at the conclusion. My rating: Four stars.

'The Mystery of Marie Roget' lacked all the positive qualities of its predecessor, but maintained its biggest flaw -- the overlong sections of Dupin's exposition. The result was a short story that was dry as a criminal justice textbook and lacked any overall characters or plot. My rating: Two stars.

'The Purloined Letter' was the best of the Dupin tales by any critical measure. The story balances plot, storytelling, exposition, and pace better than the previous two. The story is shorter, tighter, and gives the most insight into the mind and heart of Dupin, beyond his long-winded critical analysis. My rating: Four stars.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Paris Mysteries by Edgar Allen Poe is a collection of 3 Auguste Dupin stories. First is the famed Murders in the Rue Morgue where Lady L'Espanaye and her daughter are found brutally murdered in their home. The hero of the story comes in using his powers of deductive reasoning to solve the crime, despite the odd evidence and unreliable witness accounts of the crime. Next is The Mystery of Marie Rogêt, based on a true story of a murder that took place in New York. Here Dupin reaches his conclusions of the guilty party by way of the media accounts of the crime. Lastly is The Purloined Letter, in which a letter is taken from a Royal apartment and is used in a political blackmail scheme. Here Dupin uses deduction and craftiness in order to find the missing letter.

These stories are all classics of Gothic and mystery fiction. Well written and atmospheric, though I must admit it did take me a bit to get used to the pacing and writing style of telling and not showing, the opposite of how modern writers craft their stories. If you're a fan of Poe and classic mystery, give this one a try!

I would like to thank Netgalley and Puskin Vertigo for the gifted copy of this collection in exchange for my honest review.

[Jack Heath · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars. The three C. Auguste Dupin tales in one place: 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue,' 'The Mystery of Marie Roget,' and 'The Purloined Letter.' The best? The last. I review each separately, but for the collection, editor Matthew Pearl has penned a 12 page introduction. He notes that a few crime mystery stories predate Poe, but not many, and adds excerpts from examples: Voltaire's 'Zadig' from 1747, Vidocq's 'Memoirs' from 1828, and Leggett's 'The Rifle' of 1829. It is clear on reading these Poe stories that the character of Dupin is much more an extension of the author than we experience with other more recent mystery writers. His ratiocination concept, which Dupin extols in 'Marie Roget,' relates to the detective using an intellectual analysis of the crime, rather than legwork. It's pure Poe and shows up in some of his horror stories. This original approach predated Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot by decades. Much of today's mystery writing was born with Poe, from the friend as narrator to the private investigator winning the day. My main complaint? Poe often gets carried away demonstrating his intellect and the stories suffer. Some more than others. (De2020/May2025)

[Cavanşir Gadimov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poe, ilk detektif öykü yazarı olarak kabul ediliyor. Bu kitaptaki öyküler de onun Detektif Dupin karakterini anlatan öyküleridir. Bu öyküler aynı zamanda Sherlock Holmes ve Hercule Poirot gibi karakterlere model olmuştur.
Kitapla ilgili incelemem: https://kitapokurum.blogspot.com/2018...

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Nothing is more hateful to wisdom than excessive cleverness."

The Murders in the Rue Morgue : ★★★★ (4 stars)
The Mystery of Marie Roget : ★★★★ (4 stars)
The Purloined Letters : ★★★★ (4 stars)

It's been too long since I read something by Edgar Allan Poe, so picking up this audiobook was a delight. There's just something so captivating about Poe's writing.

Don't get me wrong. I liked The Mystery of Marie Roget, but it was rather quite long. However, I was shocked when it was revealed to be based off an actual true crime.

Overall, though, I'm glad I read it.

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Consider this a heads-up: there's going to be some classic detective literature lingering around my reading list for the next few months. And you can't write a potted history of it without starting vaguely in the vicinity of C. Auguste Dupin. (Actually, you probably can't start it without the Arabian Nights - don't worry, I didn't. But then I skipped forward to Poe.)

When I sat down to read Rue Morgue, I was all set to tick something off my list: a book I should have read years ago, but had never managed to. Unfortunately, I couldn't, because it turns out that I have read it before after all. I've no memory of doing so, but I definitely knew what happened. Purloined Letter the same, and not just because Arthur Conan Doyle nicked half the idea and did it (I think) better in at least two stories (A Scandal in Bohemia, and what's that one where they break into the guy's house?). The only really new-to-me one was Marie-Roget and it's definitely the weakest of the three.

They were perfectly fine stories, but as with any real genre-setters they suffer because a century of writers took the same ideas and tried to do them better. And, for the large part, they succeeded.

So on I skipped, to Wilkie Collins who let's be honest can do no wrong in my eyes. Also happening in the next few months: Christie and Sayers, Highsmith, Chandler, McBain, Sjowall and Wahloo, Mosley, and - if I can possibly wangle it - Dirk Gently. It's a funny old genre and I love it.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Monsieur Chevalier Auguste Dupin. A character created by Edgar Allan Poe....the fictional amateur detective that started an entire genre and inspired authors like Arthur Conan Doyle to create other fictional detectives. Dupin is a complex, amazingly intelligent and observant man. It's a shame that Poe did not pen more stories about him!

This book contains three stories: The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The mystery of Marie Roget, and The Purloined Letter. I love Poe's writing, so I have read these tales many times. And I enjoyed this chance to revisit them. I enjoyed having all of Dupin's investigations in one volume.

I definitely recommend these stories to any reader who loves detective fiction. The tales are written in that dark, chilling way that Poe mastered.

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Pushkin Vertigo. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

[Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay read overall but didn't evoke any strong feelings. But reminded me to try and pick up more of his works and more classics in general as I seemed not to have done it as much so far in the year

[Luis Miguel · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories will constitute the germ of the detective novel. He was inaugurating a new genre with great future success, as demonstrated by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie.

Read, enjoy and learn.

[Federico DN · Rating 2 out of 5]

Making Literary History.

The three short stories and complete collection of the adventures of the first fictional detective ever, C. Auguste Dupin; and his faithful companion, the unnamed narrator. Really Poe? Was it that hard giving him a name?

The fictional detective that dawned the murder mystery genre, and opened way for so many others that followed: Holmes, Marple, Poirot… An interesting and moderately entertaining reading, at least #1 and #3. I really can’t recommend #2, and I’d even go as far as to say to better avoid. A pretty quick reading all things considered, the three stories together amounting as much as a short novella; and even less if you discount #2.

Recommendable, for the curious cat.

It’s public domain. You can find #1 and #2 HERE and #3 HERE.

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PERSONAL NOTE :
[1844] [160p] [Crime] [Conditional Recommendable]
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★★★☆☆ 1. The Murders in the Rue Morgue. [2.5]
★☆☆☆☆ 2. The Mystery of Marie Rogêt. [1.5]
★★★☆☆ 3. The Purloined Letter. [2.5]
★★☆☆☆ 1-3. The Murders in the Rue Morgue: The Dupin Tales.

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Creando Historia Literaria.

Los tres cuentos cortos y colección completa de las aventuras del primer detective ficcional de la historia, C. Auguste Dupin; y su fiel compañero, el narrador anónimo. ¿De verdad Poe? ¿Era tan difícil darle un nombre?

El detective ficcional que dio nacimiento al género de misterio de asesinato, y que abrió paso a tantos otros que le siguieron: Holmes, Marple, Poirot… Una lectura interesante y moderadamente entretenida, al menos la #1 y #3. Realmente no puedo recomendar #2, e incluso iría tan lejos como decir que mejor evitarlo. Una lectura bastante rápida considerando todo, las tres historias equivaliendo apenas a una novela corta; y menos aún si descontás #2.

Recomendable, para el gato curioso.

Es dominio público, pueden encontrar #1 y #2 ACA y #3 ACA.

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NOTA PERSONAL :
[1844] [160p] [Crimen] [Recomendable Condicional]
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[Jim Dooley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to re-read THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE following the Road Scholar program, "The Art of the English Murder Mystery." The presenter, Martin Edwards, commented that detective fiction emerged as an off-shoot from Gothic melodramas (which also produced the genre of Ghost Stories). These stories presented the idea that solutions could come from the rational mind ... they need not wait for intervention from God.

Then, in 1841, Edgar Allan Poe's THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE was published. Inspired by the life of Verdoc, it gave us the character of C. Auguste Dupin, a young man of distinguished background (but, limited means) whose joy in the pursuit of analysis and deduction is turned toward the solving of a truly horrendous murder (in the Gothic tradition) that has all of Paris in an uproar.

I found it most intriguing to read this after recently returning to the Sherlock Holmes stories. The character of Sherlock Holmes has very little appreciation for the exploits of Dupin ... an opinion obviously not shared by his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle. In fact, the investigation at the murder scene and the subsequent trap laid in an attempt to free a falsely accused man reads so much like some incidents in Dr. Watson's narratives that it might appear that Poe stole from Conan Doyle! However, Poe was there first, and Conan Doyle was wise enough to emulate what worked.

Oddly enough, the very thing that sets the Poe story apart from other mystery works up until that time also starts things off at a glacial pace. Yes, Poe is giving the Reader insight into how the rational mind can be engaged to solve crimes. Yet, the minute descriptions of how the skills needed to be successful at whist were more valuable than being skilled at chess was slow going. Even though this was a re-read and I knew that it would improve, the "Rules" were similar to studying how to play Monopoly when all you want to do is roll the dice and move your "Hat" forward.

I doubt there are many who don't know the "big reveal" of THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE which has become iconic. Still, it is thrilling to be presented with the clues and imagine the horrific details at the scene of the crime. The resolution is swift ... perhaps a bit too swift. However, it is apparent that many mystery writers since owe a debt to Poe's perceptiveness and cringe-inducing details!

From the Road Scholar program, I learned that Poe had five mystery stories published from 1841 to 1843, and three of them featured Dupin. I am ready to move forward with them!

[Nina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Victorians are currently reading these Poe mysteries to see how they influenced the detective genre, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes in particular. I thought it would be interesting to read along and find out how the genre began and to see how much inspiration Doyle got from Poe.

I am no Sherlock scholar at all, having only read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes as of yet. But boy, Doyle succeeded where Poe failed! Both detectives - Poe's Dupin and Doyle's Sherlock - are arrogant and sometimes condescending in their great wisdom, but where Sherlock has an eccentricity and original quirky charm that makes him likable despite his arrogance, Dupin is just an annoying twat. "Listen to me talk for ages and ages and ages about how extremely intelligent I am you little ignorant fool. I am the master of observation and inference and you don't hold a candle to me. Bla bla bla algebra and analysis bla bla bla the silly French police bla bla bla oh, I am so clever bla bla bla" is basically what I hear coming out of his mouth all the time.

It takes Dupin six pages to explain something Sherlock would explain in three sentences because he has to aggrandize himself along the way, making sure that the reader is fed up with him by the end of his tiresome monologues.

But maybe it is just that the characters were not very well developed in Poe's mysteries (both the narrator and Dupin are practically non entities). There is not that lovely interplay here that exists between Sherlock and Watson. Most of the stories consist of newspaper readings and Dupin's monologues. Dupin and the narrator are rarely at the scene of the crime or out investigating. It seems as if Dupin has the solutions to the mysteries the minute he is told there is a mystery. At least with Sherlock we get to follow him around, watch him investigate, deduct and infer, which means that we as readers get to guess who the perpetrators can be. Dupin cheats us of that by knowing everything immediately.

Also:
The first mystery has a disappointingly easy solution, the second one has no solution and the third one was way too implausible for me.

Disappointed? Me?

Yes

[Olga therebelreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Τρεις αλλόκοτες, μακάβριες, τρομακτικές και σκοτεινές ιστορίες. Το έργο του Πόε μαγεύει και εμπνέει. Πολύ χαρισματικός συγγραφέας για την εποχή του αλλά και για το είδος των ιστοριών (αστυνομικό μυστήριο).

[Sarah Hörtkorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jede Erzählung mit düster-romantischem Setting und mysteriösem Tod, der den Autor schließlich selbst ereilte. Die perfekte Lektüre für den Herbst/Winter, ein sehr interessanter Autor, der nicht den leichten Weg wählte...