The Tell-Tale Corpse

Edgar Allan Poe Mystery #4

by Harold Schechter

Ever since childhood, Edgar Allan Poe has seen things that are not there, heard voices others cannot and felt utterly at home in the realm of human darkness. In Harold Schechter's intriguing, suspenseful, and delightfully wicked mystery series, Poe makes the perfect hero to unravel cases of the murderous and the macabre.
The Tell-Tale Corpse begins as Poe pays a visit to his old friend P. T. Barnum, who implores the wordsmith to travel to Boston to secure for Poe's wife an urgent medical cure-and to acquire some particularly garish crime-scene evidence for Barnum's popular cabinet of curiosities, the so-called American Museum. The crime in question is the recent butchery of a beautiful young shopgirl. Once in Boston, Poe makes an immediate deduction: The sensational murder is only one in a string of inexplicable killings-the center of a single, shadowy pool of deceit and ghoulish depravity.
Several deaths later, Poe finds himself leading a frantic investigation, with the assistance of a highly unusual girl named Louisa May Alcott, who has literary ambitions of her own-and whose innocence belies her own fascination with the dark side. As his wife's health falters and a city panics, Poe pursues a strange circle of suspects. He must now see what others cannot: the invisible bonds that tie together seemingly unrelated cases-and the truth that lies behind a serial murderer's ghastly disguise.
From a cameo by the narcoleptic Henry David Thoreau to a charming portrait of the four Alcott sisters at home in Concord, The Tell-Tale Corpse brings to life nineteenth-century New York and Boston and a world of intellectuals, charlatans, discoverers, dupes, daguerreotypists, and amateurmorticians. As Poe comes closer to unraveling the fiendish riddle, the poet must admit at last that he is up against a fellow genius-a genius not of words but of death.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Horror, Historical Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Fiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Aka Jon A. Harrald (joint pseudonym with Jonna Gormley Semeiks)

Harold Schechter is a true crime writer who specializes in serial killers. He attended the State University of New York in Buffalo, where he obtained a Ph.D. A resident of New York City, Schechter is professor of American literature and popular culture at Queens College of the City University of New York.

Among his nonfiction works are the historical true-crime classics Fatal, Fiend, Deviant, Deranged, and Depraved. He also authors a critically acclaimed mystery series featuring Edgar Allan Poe, which includes The Hum Bug and Nevermore and The Mask of Red Death.

Schechter is married to poet Kimiko Hahn. He has two daughters from a previous marriage: the writer Lauren Oliver and professor of philosophy Elizabeth Schechter.

Reviews

[Redsteve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the darkest of the four EAP Mysteries by Schechter, and not just because Poe is having to come to terms with the fact that his beloved wife is dying of consumption - and probably sooner rather than later. The villains are horrific, which is saying something considering that the previous book's murderer was famous 19th Century cannibal "Liver Eating Johnson." Complicated plot, but not unduly so. Although, and I don't think that I'm giving too much away here, if your murder suspect dies in a way that conveniently disfigures his face, maybe hold off on closing that case file. Interesting choice of a young Louisa May Alcott as Poe's investigation partner n this one - usually, it's someone with enough ass-kicking skills (Davy Crockett, Kit Carson) or at least able to call in same (PT Barnum) to protect Poe when the going gets tough, as, despite his claims to pugilistic skill, Poe generally proves pretty hopeless in a fight. Although he does beat up Henry David Thoreau at one point in this book. Also, I learned from the Author's Notes that before she became famous, Louisa May Alcott was a writer of stories of murder, violence and revenge - so maybe she wasn't such a strange choice afterall.

[Undine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oddly, Harold Schechter's "Poe as detective" novels are almost the only readable fictional depictions of the famed writer I have seen. The murders are a bit gory for my taste, but it is otherwise a well-written, complex, interesting story--and it is certainly an interesting change of pace to see Poe depicted as a sane, likable human being.

However, I found a decided irony to the ending that Schechter appears to have overlooked. By solving this series of crimes, Poe, in effect, ensured the doom of his beloved wife. I'm surprised the author did not make more of this. Still, a very enjoyable book.

[Nathalia · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5
Definitivamente, es el libro más lento y tedioso de la saga y me ha dejado con una sensación agria. ¿Es este el final? Espero que no. Hace muchos años que el autor no publica nuevos libros en este universo, pero ojalá en el futuro pueda darle a Poe un cierre más completo y gratificante. Sería interesante que su último caso acabara con su muerte, de forma similar al modo en el que ocurrió en realidad.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series so much. I'm super sad this is the last book.

[Kathy Bartlett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Louisa May Alcott fans might especially enjoy.

[Miriam]

Just as Louisa May Alcott wrote a fictional version of her family in Little Women, Schechter gives a fictional version of "Louy", as she preferred to be called, meeting Edgar Allan Poe and having gruesome adventures with him. Schechter says in an author's note that the real Louisa first wrote sensational stories, "lurid tales of murder and mystery, violence and revenge," and one of these "potboilers" was an homage to the detective fiction of Edgar Alan Poe. The Tell-Tale Corpse is the last and best of Schechter's quartet of homages to Poe.

[Joann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not entirely proud that I enjoy fiction using historical people as characters but sometimes I just can't resist. I like Schechter's characterization of Poe and have enjoyed his other books in the series. I think if you squint a bit you could totally see the actual Poe behaving like Schechter's character. The historical detail of the books is well done too.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give it 4 stars for the little Poe references and unexpected twists.