I just finished reading this book, and it immediately shot up to the top of my mental book list. Matthew Pearl--who also wrote The Dante Club--has an amazing way of getting into the spirit of the period, of writing like he really was his character. The novel is written in first person, which I usually don't like, but Quentin Clark is truly a beautifully-drawn character. He's the sort of unassuming character who quickly wins your heart. And then the other characters--Bonjour, the female French assassin, the malevolent Baron Dupin, the American branch of the Napoleon family in Baltimore, the mysterious Monsieur Duponte--they're all so vivid!
This novel tackles one of literature's greatest mysteries: how exactly did Edgar Allan Poe die? He was found outside a pub in clothes that obviously weren't his own, and died in delirium sometime later, when he wasn't even supposed to be in Baltimore at that time. This novel--well, jeez. I just can't summarize. It's so complex and convoluted and just all-over brilliant, and the historical accuracy (right down to the pigs left to roam the streets of Baltimore to clean up trash at night) is astounding.
From the back:
"Baltimore, 1894. The body of Edgar Allan Poe has been buried in an unmarked grave. Quentin Clark is a young lawyer and ardent admirer of Poe's who puts his own career and reputation at risk in a crusade to find out the truth behind the writer's death. After discovering that accounts of POe's last days are riddled with unanswered questions the police are ignoring, Quentin finds himself enmeshed in sinister machinations involving international political agents, a female assassin, and the corrupt Baltimore slave trade. In order to unchain his now imperiled fate from Poe's, Quentin must turn master investigator."
So, yes. Have you read this book? If so, please gush below. If not--go! Run! Buy!
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