With his own future hanging in the balance, Quentin Clark must turn master investigator himself to unchain his now imperiled fate from that of Poes.įollowing 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. 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 Poes final hours. Auguste Dupin, the hero of ingenious tales of crime and detection. The young attorney realizes that he must find the one person who can solve the strange case of Poes death: the real-life model for Poes brilliant fictional detective character, C. Just when Poes death seems destined to remain a mystery, and forever sealing his ignominy, inspiration strikes Quentinin the form of Poes own stories. 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 Poes.Īs Quentin explores the puzzling circumstances of Poes demise, he discovers that the writers last days are riddled with unanswered questions the police are possibly willfully ignoring. The public, the press, and even Poes own family and friends accept the conclusion that Poe was a second-rate writer who met a disgraceful end as a drunkard. The body of Edgar Allan Poe has been buried in an unmarked grave.

the truth about this mans death and my life.īaltimore, 1849.

The poe shadow