The First Detective: The Complete Auguste Dupin Stories-The Murders in the Rue Morgue, the Mystery of Marie Roget & the Purloined Letter (Leonaur Detective & Crime)

Bought this for my grandmother, as she loves murder mysteries. "Murder and Mayhem" books as we call them in my family. Not knowing what series she liked or what she has read, I was flumoxed on what to buy her.I searched online for lists of famous/quality murder mysteries. I skipped some of the classics, such as anything to do with Poirot or anything by Conan Doyle. I figured she had read them at some point. I thought I would go for something she had likely not read.And then I found this beauty; I knew I found my prize. The first of the genre and by a writer I have read. A writer I know for a fact is not hype or undue fame. Looking at you James Fenimore Cooper. So I bought it then and there.When it came, I was somewhat surprised by the slimness of the volume. I had not looked at the page count before purchasing it. I wrapped the sucker, knowing that my grandmother would love it.She thought it was fantastic, and having read it after her I agree. I would highly recommend, especially if you can find it reasonable at a pre-owned price point.

The story is engaging and Bronson Pinchot as narrator is perfect!! My only issue is that with Poe's writings, he tends to use Latin and French words that I'm not familiar with.

Great precursor to Holmes, with even some attributes of Holmes picked up in this trology. Wish there were more.

Got as a gift and it's great!

Edgar Allan Poe is best known for his poetry ("Quoth the raven...") and his tales of the macabre. But he has a lesser-known claim to fame -- the prototypical detective stories, predating Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. Though only three stories about C. Auguste Dupin were written, "The First Detective: The Complete Auguste Dupin Stories" compiles all three of them, with their baffling answers and armchair detection. These weren't the first detective tales, but they set the mold for the mysteries that followed -- strange, atmospheric, and crawling with elaborate clues and odd logical deductions.We're introduced to Dupin through his pal/roommate, in "Murders in the Rue Morgue." He's impoverished but of an old family, and lives in a crumbling, gothic mansion full of his books. But his mind is sharper than anyone around him, based on the logical process of "ratiocination." Simply put, deduction through rational thought.In this first mystery, Dupin learns of a bizarre mystery, where an apartment was found almost destroyed but nothing was stolen. An old lady is found outside with her head hacked off with a razor, and her daughter is found throttled and stuffed upside-down in a chimney, with locks of her hair pulled out. No motive, and no suspects. The police are baffled -- but Dupin isn't.Based on a real crime, "The Mystery of Marie Roget" opens with the death of a popular young woman, who is later found floating in the river. By reading different newspaper reports, Dupin chronicles the peculiarities of the crime, and debunks the many assumptions that were made about the crime -- how many assailants, where, when, and so on."The Purloined Letter" has a somewhat less gruesome crime. The prefect of police is meeting with Dupin, with a very important matter to discuss -- a compromising letter of the Queen's was stolen in front of her eyes, and now the Minister is blackmailing her with it. The police have searched the Minister's apartment from top to bottom, but there's no sign of the letter. Only Dupin knows where to find it.These stories are are not only the undervalued roots of modern detective fiction, but staggeringly good stories as well. Poe -- who reportedly made Dupin the sort of logical, cool person he wanted to be -- crammed a whole novel's worth of detecting into each short story, and made even the weirdest answers (the ending of the first story is likely to make you do a double-take and mumble, "What the...?") seem plausible.Unlike Poe's other works, these are made up mostly of deduction and dialogue, though Poe does get in some wonderful lines about the shared mansion ("... in a style which suited the rather fantastic gloom of our common temper, a time-eaten and grotesque mansion"). And while the dialogue seems rather dry at first, as it unfolds, the intricacies of each bizarre plot become clear.You could say that the one flaw of these stories is that they don't offer much insight into the characters. We don't know much about Dupin, except that he's an impoverished, well-educated nobleman with a vast collection of books and a brain second to none. But the stories are really about Dupin's logical deductions rather than the character himself, and how any baffling case could be solved if you just had enough clues and a clear head."The First Detective: The Complete Auguste Dupin Stories," collecting all three stories together, are a remarkable work of detective fiction, and are among Poe's best -- and most underrated -- works of fiction. Definitely a must-read.

Product was as described. Great price for a hard to get item. And if you enjoy classic mysteries and Poe, you will like these.

Intriguing and arrived on time.