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    The Purloined Letter
    The Purloined Letter
    The Purloined Letter
    Ebook31 pages30 minutes

    The Purloined Letter

    By Edgar Allan Poe

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    First published in a 1844 literary annual The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1845, The Purloined Letter is the third and final story that features Poe's detective, C. Auguste Dupin. In it, a letter containing compromising information has been stolen from the boudoir of an unnamed woman by the unscrupulous Minister D-. The police offer a reward for the return of the letter and amateur detective C. Auguste Dupin obliges them. After collecting the reward, Dupin relates the ingenious way he determined the letter's location to an unnamed narrator. The story is an important early forerunner of the modern detective story, and has a similar plot to A Scandal in Bohemia by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDreamscape Media
    Release dateJul 25, 2017
    ISBN9781974995295
    Author

    Edgar Allan Poe

    Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) reigned unrivaled in his mastery of mystery during his lifetime and is now widely held to be a central figure of Romanticism and gothic horror in American literature. Born in Boston, he was orphaned at age three, was expelled from West Point for gambling, and later became a well-regarded literary critic and editor. The Raven, published in 1845, made Poe famous. He died in 1849 under what remain mysterious circumstances and is buried in Baltimore, Maryland.

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    Reviews for The Purloined Letter

    3.5/5

    160 ratings7 reviews

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    • 3/5


      Three stars for being Poe. Now to read some of the better ones.
    • 4/5
      "Perhaps it is the very simplicity of the thing which puts you at fault."

      Compared to the works of Arthur Conan Doyle, this was one I knew I couldn't possibly miss. I could see some similarities, but naturally, Sherlock was sorely missed. In his place, Poe's writing was an adequate replacement. The story was not full of any action; however, it was a recollection of the search that was conducted for the 'purloined letter' and the reasoning that sometimes what you're looking for is right under your nose all along.

      "It is merely," I said, "an identification of the reasoner's intellect with that of his opponent."
    • 5/5
      This is definitely the best of the three Poe stories featuring Dupin, despite having the most commonplace title. It's a clear antecedent of Sherlock Holmes in almost every respect, and actually has a plot as well. You can hear Holmes saying many of Dupin's lines, Watson saying many of the unnamed narrator's and Lestrade saying many of Inspector G's lines.
    • 2/5
      Read this as part of my BA in English.With Poe's reputation, I felt disappointed with this, though parts did impress me. The concept is clever, but too much rambling prose prevented me from really liking this.
    • 2/5
      ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz.
    • 4/5
      I've read a few Edgar Allan Poe stories in my time (I remember being very scared by reading the Tell-Tale Heart) but this one had never this one. Since it is on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list and it was available as a free download on the internet I decided to finish up my trifecta of detective novels by reading it now. I suppose this would be classified as one of the oldest detective mysteries and I'm sure that is why it is on the list.A letter has been taken from a royal personage's room by a minister of the Crown. The letter would be damaging to the royal personage (although not specified it is presumed the royal personage is the Queen) if it was divulged to her husband so the minister can use it to obtain advantages for himself. The Parisian police, headed by Monsieur G., have been tasked with recovering the letter but despite searching the minister's house minutely and having him waylaid twice to be personally searched they have not been able to find it. Monsieur G. comes to Auguste Dupin to ask for advice. Dupin advises him to search the house again. When Monsieur G. returns in a month he confesses that they have not been able to find the letter and that the reward has been doubled. G. says he would give 50,000 francs to whoever could help find the letter. Dupin says if G. writes a cheque he will produce the letter and he does upon receiving the cheque. G. goes away happy but mystified and Dupin explains to the narrator how he found the letter. In this he reminded me quite a lot of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot using his little grey cells to solve a mystery that eluded the police.It's nice to tick another one off the list.
    • 4/5
      This is a detective novel (short story) by Poe. Poe is credited with the creation of the modern detective novel. The story is about a stolen letter from the Queen of France. It displays the skills of the detective. It was enjoyable.

    Book preview

    The Purloined Letter - Edgar Allan Poe

    cover.jpg

    THE PURLOINED LETTER

    By

    EDGAR ALLAN POE

    This edition published by Dreamscape Media LLC, 2017

    www.dreamscapeab.com * info@dreamscapeab.com

    1417 Timberwolf Drive, Holland, OH 43528

    877.983.7326

    dreamscape

    About Edgar Allan Poe:

    Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and American literature as a whole, and he was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story. Poe is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

    Poe was born in Boston, the second child of two actors. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died the following year. Thus orphaned, the child was taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia. They never formally adopted him, but Poe was with them well into young adulthood. Tension developed later as John Allan and Edgar repeatedly clashed over debts, including those incurred by gambling, and the cost of secondary education for the young man. Poe attended the University of Virginia for one semester but left due to lack of money. Poe quarreled with Allan over the funds for his education and enlisted in the Army in 1827 under an assumed name. It was at this time that his publishing career began, albeit humbly, with the anonymous collection of poems Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827), credited only to a Bostonian. With the death of Frances Allan in 1829, Poe and Allan reached a temporary rapprochement. However, Poe later failed as an officer cadet at West Point, declaring a firm wish to be a poet and writer, and he ultimately parted ways with John Allan.

    Poe switched his focus to prose and spent the next several years working for literary journals and periodicals, becoming known for his own style of literary criticism. His work forced him to move among several cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. In Richmond

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