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    The Purloined Letter: Short Story
    The Purloined Letter: Short Story
    The Purloined Letter: Short Story
    Ebook32 pages37 minutes

    The Purloined Letter: Short Story

    By Edgar Allan Poe

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    About this ebook

    When a missing letter leads to blackmail, detective C. Auguste Dupin must deduce the location of it without raising the suspicion of the blackmailer. “The Purloined Letter” is the third short story by Edgar Allan Poe to feature detective C. August Dupin, widely recognized as one of the first fictional detectives in literature.

    A pioneer of the short story genre, Poe’s stories typically captured themes of the macabre and included elements of the mysterious. His better-known stories include “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Pit and the Pendulum”, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, “The Masque of the Red Death” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”.

    HarperCollins brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperCollins short-stories collection to build your digital library.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMay 28, 2013
    ISBN9781443424653
    The Purloined Letter: Short Story
    Author

    Edgar Allan Poe

    Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston in 1809. His parents, both touring actors, died before he was three. He was raised by John Allan, a prosperous Virginian merchant. Poe published his first volume of poetry while still a teenager. He worked as an editor for magazines in Philadelphia, Richmond and New York, and achieved respect as a literary critic. In 1836, he married his thirteen year-old cousin. It was only with the publication of The Raven and other Poems in 1845 that he achieved national fame as a writer. Poe died in mysterious circumstances in 1849.

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      Book preview

      The Purloined Letter - Edgar Allan Poe

      Poe_Short_stories_cover.jpg

      The Purloined

      Letter

      Edgar Allan Poe

      HarperPerennialClassicsLogo.jpg

      CONTENTS

      The Purloined Letter

      About the Author

      About the Series

      Copyright

      About the Publisher

      The Purloined Letter

      Nil sapientiae odiosius acumine nimio

      —Seneca

      At Paris, just after dark one gusty evening in the autumn of 18—, I was enjoying the twofold luxury of meditation and a meerschaum, in company with my friend C. Auguste Dupin, in his little back library, or book-closet, au troisiême, No. 33, Rue Dunôt, Faubourg St. Germain. For one hour at least we had maintained a profound silence; while each, to any casual observer, might have seemed intently and exclusively occupied with the curling eddies of smoke that oppressed the atmosphere of the chamber. For myself, however, I was mentally discussing certain topics which had formed matter for conversation between us at an earlier period of the evening; I mean the affair of the Rue Morgue, and the mystery attending the murder of Marie Rogêt. I looked upon it, therefore, as something of a coincidence, when the door of our apartment was thrown open and admitted our old acquaintance, Monsieur G——, the Prefect of the Parisian police.

      We gave him a hearty welcome; for there was nearly half as much of the entertaining as of the contemptible about the man, and we had not seen him for several years. We had been sitting in the dark, and Dupin now arose for the purpose of lighting a lamp, but sat down again, without doing so, upon G.’s saying that he had called to consult us, or rather to ask the opinion of my friend, about some official business which had occasioned a great deal of trouble.

      If it is any point requiring reflection, observed Dupin, as he forebore to enkindle the wick, we shall examine it to better purpose in the dark.

      That is another of your odd notions, said the Prefect, who had a fashion of calling every thing odd that was beyond his comprehension, and thus lived amid an absolute legion of oddities.

      Very true, said Dupin, as he supplied his visiter with a pipe, and rolled

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