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by: Matthew Pearl  List Price: $13.95 Amazon.com's Price: $11.16 You Save: $2.79 (20%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 813.6 EAN: 9780812970128 ISBN: 0812970128 Label: Random House Trade Paperbacks Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 416 Publication Date: July 10, 2007 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Release Date: July 10, 2007 Studio: Random House Trade Paperbacks Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Product Description: “I present to you . . . the truth about this man’s death and my life.” Baltimore, 1849. The body of Edgar Allan Poe has been buried in an unmarked grave. The public, the press, and even Poe’s own family and friends accept the conclusion that Poe was a second-rate writer who met a disgraceful end as a drunkard. Everyone, in fact, seems to believe this except a young Baltimore lawyer named Quentin Clark, an ardent admirer who puts his own career and reputation at risk in a passionate crusade to salvage Poe’s. As Quentin explores the puzzling circumstances of Poe’s demise, he discovers that the writer’s last days are riddled with unanswered questions the police are possibly willfully ignoring. Just when Poe’s death seems destined to remain a mystery, and forever sealing his ignominy, inspiration strikes Quentin–in the form of Poe’s own stories. The young attorney realizes that he must find the one person who can solve the strange case of Poe’s death: the real-life model for Poe’s brilliant fictional detective character, C. Auguste Dupin, the hero of ingenious tales of crime and detection. In short order, Quentin finds himself enmeshed in sinister machinations involving political agents, a female assassin, the corrupt Baltimore slave trade, and the lost secrets of Poe’s final hours. With his own future hanging in the balance, Quentin Clark must turn master investigator himself to unchain his now imperiled fate from that of Poe’s. Following his phenomenal debut novel, The Dante Club, Matthew Pearl has once again crossed pitch-perfect literary history with innovative mystery to create a beautifully detailed, ingeniously plotted tale of suspense. Pearl’s groundbreaking research–featuring documented material never published before–opens a new window on the truth behind Poe’s demise, literary history’s most persistent enigma. The resulting novel is a publishing event that, through sublime craftsmanship, subtle wit, and devious twists, does honor to Poe himself From the Hardcover edition. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - This book is amazingThis book is amazing! The story is captivating and suspenseful and has many twists without them being real twists--simple logic proves all assumptions wrong. Not to mention that the writing itself is sound and unique. Rating: - An enjoyable read!I really enjoyed this book. True, it is not a book one can skim through. It is loaded with characters and can get confusing if not read carefully and slowly. I have to disagree with those who say the main character's obsession is not believable. His devotion to finding the truth is totally believable, especially when one takes his occupation into account. There are lots of twists and turns in the story, and many times the reader is "left hanging" when an explanation is begun and left unfinished ... Read More Rating:  - Good, but about 75 pages and two too many psychobabble interludes past greatFictional account of Poe's death, an event still surrounded by questions about his well-being and where-being. Pearl purports to solve the mystery through research by a fictional Baltimore lawyer and the assistance of competing fictional real-life models for Poe's super-rational detective Auguste Dupin. Does a decent job of weaving historical research into suppositional solution of the Poe mystery, but the book tends to wind on and on as if in attempted imitation of Poe's romantic literary ... Read More Rating: - This novel pulls you in . . .The Poe Shadow is fantastic. If you're looking for a good detective novel that takes you back in the past of 19th century Charm City, then you've found your book. Just as Quentin Clark was consumed with Poe and his death, you will be consumed, enthralled, and even a little shaken up as you follow the eerie circumstances surrounding Poe's death, as told by Pearl. Especially if you're from Baltimore, this book is like walking the same Old Baltimore streets, from over east to west, except you're in the pre ... Read More Rating: - Poe's Death: Case ClosedPearl investigates Poe's mysterious death with a brilliant, persistent detective novice, Quentin H. Clark, along with the help of the real-life inspiration of Poe's greatest character Dupin, to uncover an entangled conspiracy that would leave Poe conspiracy theorists occupied for years. Pearl's ingenious writing and astounding research brings forth a novel that could even close the case once and for all on how and why Poe actually died. 
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