It was on this day in 1841 that Edgar Allan Poe…published his short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” It’s the story of the brilliant amateur detective Auguste Dupin and how he solves the crime of two murders that turn out to have been committed by an orangutan. It was the first story to feature a detective solving a crime, and it would spark the entire genre of detective fiction, one of the most popular fiction genres in the history of English literature.
Of course, it wasn’t the first mystery story. The mystery story is as old as literature. What made Poe’s short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” different was that it was about a man solving a crime by examining and piecing together clues through a process of scientific reasoning. It also introduced many of the elements of mysteries that are still popular today: the genius detective Auguste C. Dupin, the not-so-smart sidekick, the plodding policeman, and the use of the red herring to lead readers off the track. Arthur Conan Doyle borrowed almost all of those elements to create the Sherlock Holmes stories and novels, which were what really popularized the detective story. Doyle had actually done some work as a scientist, so he was able to make the investigations in his stories more realistic.
Appropriately, in anticipation of today’s anniversary, NewMexiKen yesterday read The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri, featuring Inspector Salvo Montalbano. Last night I began Acqua Alta
The Leon book is, in my opinion, very good. (I’m nearly done.)