The death of prolific writer, poet and literary critic Edgar Allan Poe remains an astonishing and unsolvable mystery well more than a century after it happened. Mark Dawidziak (Mark Twain for Cat Lovers) lays out all the facts in A Mystery of Mysteries, a fascinating retelling of Poe's last days.
Edgar Allan Poe appeared outside an Election Day polling place in Baltimore, Md., on October 3, 1849--disheveled, somewhat incoherent and wearing someone else's clothing. Four days later, he died. Soon after, the physician at Poe's bedside left the field of medicine for the lecture circuit, where he repeatedly varied the account of Poe's death. Poe's stories tend to make the reading lists of American English literature courses, and most libraries and bookstores devote a large section of space to his works. Yet Poe barely made ends meet, and the financial and literary praise commonly associated today with his writings eluded him. Instead, rumors of alcoholism and drug use were (and remain) unfairly linked to his persona. Poe scholars still have lively arguments about Poe's life and death. Even forensic experts have entered the debate, but they can agree on only one thing: no one knows what happened.
Dawidziak assumes that most readers will have a basic familiarity with the works of Edgar Allan Poe and initially takes a just-the-facts approach to A Mystery of Mysteries, but the facts themselves are confounding. The more he reveals, the easier it is to understand why so many people are obsessed with finding the answers. Instead of a dusty, academic account, Dawidziak presents a real-life thriller. --Paul Dinh-McCrillis, freelance reviewer