THE POE SHADOW PB A FORMAT – MATTHEW PEARL

Baltimore, 1849. The body of Edgar Allan Poe has been buried in an unmarked grave. The public, the press, even Poe s family and friends accept the conclusion that Poe was a second-rate writer who died a drunkard. But none of this deters a young Baltimore lawyer named Quentin Clark, an ardent admirer who risks his own career and reputation in a passionate crusade to salvage Poe s. Clark discovers that Poe s last days are riddled with vital unanswered questions. The police, it seems, may be concealing things. But just when Poe s death looks destined to remain a mystery Quentin realises he must find the one person who can solve this strange case: the real-life model for Poe s brilliant fictional detective character, C. Auguste Dupin, the hero of ingenious tales of crime and detection. Clark successfully recruits the man he believes to have inspired Poe s Dupin only to be confronted by another claiming to be the true model and a dangerous race between the two master detectives begins, each seeking to prove he is the real Dupin by solving the mystery of Poe s death. In short order, Clark finds himself enmeshed in sinister machinations involving international 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, he must turn master investigator himself to unchain his now imperiled fate from that of Poe. The Poe Shadow is a beautifully detailed, ingeniously plotted tale of suspense which opens a thrilling new window on the truth behind Poe s demise, literary history s most persistent enigma.