On this, the 171st anniversary of his death, Edgar Allan Poe is more popular than ever and more misunderstood. Mystery writer S. S. Van Dine describes the detective story as a contest, in which the author seeks to “outwit the reader” by presenting a puzzle that the reader is unable to solve, despite being given…
Elsa Hart stops by to share eight of her favorite crime short stories. Add these to your TBR, and also make sure to save room for The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne, the first book in a new atmospheric mystery series set in 1703 London—a time when the old approaches to science coexist with the new,…
Inevitably, all authors get the same question about their book: How on earth did you come up with this idea? I can’t answer that question in a single sentence. My recent book, Opium and Absinthe, is the third historical medical mystery I’ve written. The creation of each novel has been like stitching together a monster…
Today, January 19th, is Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday. To celebrate his would-be 210th name day, we’re taking a look back at “The Purloined Letter,” C. Auguste Dupin, and the villain who’s been right in front of our eyes this whole time. It’s what he would have wanted. You don’t hear too many people using the…
This week, PBS aired a documentary on Poe titled, Buried Alive. It should have been, Buried Anew. It was too much to hope that the film would actually set the record straight about Poe. Yet the advance write-up on the PBS website said all the right things. The film would sweep away the “misrepresentations” of Poe and…
It’s Halloween weekend, and all across America, folks are cashing in with events commemorating Edgar Allan Poe. An upscale restaurant in Denver will offer a four-course “Mask of the Red Death” dinner, to which guests are encouraged to wear “masquerade attire.” Dorchester Brewery in Boston will debut its newest ale: Lenore Beer—named, the brewery says,…
Don't see your favorite Poe story? Let us know which is your favorite in the comments below!
Read this exclusive guest post from Michael Cannell, author of Incendiary: The Psychiatrist, the Mad Bomber, and the Invention of Criminal Profiling, and make sure to sign in and comment below for a chance to win a signed copy of the book! New York convulsed with anxiety in 1956 as police searched in vain for…
Who’s the most famous lawyer-author of all time? Nope, not John Grisham. Here are some hints: Last week was his birthday. He grew up in a log cabin. He wore a tall top hat. And, oh yeah, he helped free the slaves.
Today, Edgar A. Poe would have been 208 years old. His birthday gift to readers is stories that just keep on giving. Have you ever heard “Little Red Riding Hood” or “The Three Little Pigs” told from the wolf’s point of view? If you think that’s amusing, try this one: “The Tell-Tale Heart” from the…
