‘The Purloined Letter’ by Edgar Allan Poe
This book contains Edgar Allan Poe’s 1844 short story, The Purloined Letter.
Famous Parisian detective C. Auguste Dupin is asked by the Prefect of the Police to investigate the theft of a letter that is being used by a shady minster as an instrument of blackmail. An exciting tale of mystery and intrigue, The Purloined Letter constitutes a must-read for lovers of detective fiction.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American author, editor, poet, and critic. Most famous for his stories of mystery and horror, he was one of the first American short story writers, and is widely considered to be the inventor of the detective fiction genre.
We are republishing this vintage text, The Purloined Letter, in an affordable, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.
Extract from Edgar Allan Poe’s The Purloined Letter:
“No sooner had I glanced at this letter, than I concluded it to be that of which I was in search. To be sure, it was, to all appearance, radically different from the one of which the Prefect had read us so minute a description. Here the seal was large and black, with the D– cipher; there it was small and red, with the ducal arms of the S– family. Here, the address, to the Minister, was diminutive and feminine; there the superscription, to a certain royal personage, was markedly bold and decided; the size alone formed a point of correspondence. But, then, the radicalness of these differences, which was excessive; the dirt; the soiled and torn condition of the paper, so inconsistent with the true methodical habits of D–, and so suggestive of a design to delude the beholder into an idea of the worthlessness of the document; these things, together with the hyperobtrusive situation of this document, full in the view of every visitor, and thus exactly in accordance with the conclusions to which I had previously arrived; these things, I say, were strongly corroborative of suspicion, in one who came with the intention to suspect.”
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Here, at edgarallanpoe.co.uk, you can find the best of this fantastic author’s novels, short stories, essays, and poems.
You can also find a biography of Edgar Allan Poe, along with some of his most famous quotes and loved poems.
Through republishing works such as ‘The Purloined Letter’, it is hoped that the writing of this author of mystery and the macabre, can continue to delight – almost two centuries after its initial publication.
