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If Shadows Could Speak: Nocturne Savant: A Mystery of C. Auguste Dupin
If Shadows Could Speak
by R. Corvus Black
Before the infamous Murders In the Rue Morgue… before the legend of the world’s first detective was born… there was only Auguste Dupin—brilliant, volatile, and dangerously idealistic.
In If Shadows Could Speak, we meet a young Dupin living in exile in his crumbling ancestral home. Once a rising star in the Parisian theater, now a blacklisted playwright accused of inciting class warfare, Dupin investigates an impossible murder in 1830s Paris—a city teetering between monarchies, aflame with unrest, and haunted by shadows both political and personal. Drawn into a locked room mystery drenched in blood and horror, he must rely on the only weapons left to his unrelenting mind, his disdain for authority, and a gift for seeing through man’s most elaborate illusions.
A gothic mystery steeped in historical tension, If Shadows Could Speak is a prequel to Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue, offering a bold reimagining of Dupin’s origins. This is not yet the Chevalier of legend, but the man who would become him—restless, dangerous, and just beginning to unravel the darkness.
The shadows are speaking.
And Dupin is listening.
by R. Corvus Black
Before the infamous Murders In the Rue Morgue… before the legend of the world’s first detective was born… there was only Auguste Dupin—brilliant, volatile, and dangerously idealistic.
In If Shadows Could Speak, we meet a young Dupin living in exile in his crumbling ancestral home. Once a rising star in the Parisian theater, now a blacklisted playwright accused of inciting class warfare, Dupin investigates an impossible murder in 1830s Paris—a city teetering between monarchies, aflame with unrest, and haunted by shadows both political and personal. Drawn into a locked room mystery drenched in blood and horror, he must rely on the only weapons left to his unrelenting mind, his disdain for authority, and a gift for seeing through man’s most elaborate illusions.
A gothic mystery steeped in historical tension, If Shadows Could Speak is a prequel to Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue, offering a bold reimagining of Dupin’s origins. This is not yet the Chevalier of legend, but the man who would become him—restless, dangerous, and just beginning to unravel the darkness.
The shadows are speaking.
And Dupin is listening.
82 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 1, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 31, 2025
“Thanks to the author for the ARC. This is my honest opinion.”
The story is set in France in a time before modern police procedures and training. One person has trained his mind to sift through the details and draw conclusions others would never see. Our hero, Dupin, started out as a budding playwright but was soon ostracized by the local authorities who felt his play was too volatile for the people and the times. Having been shunned by the theatre, Dupin retrains his mind turning to the study of psychology through rational thinking. Dupin upstages the local gendarmes, who had been instrumental in ending his playwright career. His version of rational thinking allows him to reach conclusions never suspected by the authorities. The author, R. Corvus Black, has in his writing, expertly painted imagery of the surroundings and the times, and given us a mystery to solve along with Dupin. His book is written for young adults who might have an interest in the past, expanding their rational thinking and won’t mind delving into the darker side of life. If this is you, have a read.
The story is set in France in a time before modern police procedures and training. One person has trained his mind to sift through the details and draw conclusions others would never see. Our hero, Dupin, started out as a budding playwright but was soon ostracized by the local authorities who felt his play was too volatile for the people and the times. Having been shunned by the theatre, Dupin retrains his mind turning to the study of psychology through rational thinking. Dupin upstages the local gendarmes, who had been instrumental in ending his playwright career. His version of rational thinking allows him to reach conclusions never suspected by the authorities. The author, R. Corvus Black, has in his writing, expertly painted imagery of the surroundings and the times, and given us a mystery to solve along with Dupin. His book is written for young adults who might have an interest in the past, expanding their rational thinking and won’t mind delving into the darker side of life. If this is you, have a read.
August 1, 2025
An excellent, engaging and well-written homage to Poe's Dupin, the first (and perhaps greatest) fictional detective of his kind. A delightful and, at times, very funny, read that I cannot recommend enough!
Thanks to the author for the ARC. This is my honest opinion.
Thanks to the author for the ARC. This is my honest opinion.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews