The Poe Shadow

讓丹．布朗傾心、美國文學史專家讚歎的《但丁俱樂部》作者最新力作
一場精心架構的驚悚歷史小說
一本向推理小說始祖愛倫坡致敬的完美之作

巴爾的摩年輕有為的律師克拉克是位文藝青年
他對當時不受文壇接納的愛倫坡私心景仰崇拜
但這股熱情卻將他捲入愛倫坡離奇早逝之謎
甚至讓他失去了原本可以功成名就的所有……

繼《但丁俱樂部》之後，美國當代暢銷作家馬修‧珀爾再度挑戰文學歷史推理小說。這次珀爾將目標轉向影響美國二十世紀初文壇甚鉅、且堪稱世界推理小說先驅的艾德格‧愛倫‧坡。本書展現作者珀爾對愛倫坡生平故事的熟稔，更巧妙地將其對照愛倫坡的代表作《莫爾格街兇殺案》及詩作《大鴉》，全書的敘事手法更得愛倫坡真傳，聳人聽聞的情節發展與人物心理的調度讓人讚歎，出入十九世紀的美國巴爾的摩與巴黎，透過歷史與想像將愛倫坡的身影躍然紙上。本書上市之後迅速登上《紐約時報》等各大暢銷排行榜，英美各大書評媒體更是佳評不斷……

★本書中譯本由時報出版。

作者簡介

馬修．珀爾（Matthew Pearl）

於1997年以最高榮譽（summa cum laude）畢業於哈佛大學英美文學系，2000年畢業於耶魯大學法學院。他因學術成績卓著，曾於1998年獲「美國但丁學會」（Dante Society of America）頒贈「但丁獎」（Dante Prize）之殊榮，著有The Dante Club《但丁俱樂部》。他生長於勞德岱堡（Fort Lauderdale），現居劍橋。可由他的網站與他聯絡：www.thedanteclub.com。

　　"I present to you . . . the truth about this man's death and my life." Baltimore, 1849. The body of Edgar Allan Poe has been buried in an unmarked grave. The public, the press, and even Poe's own family and friends accept the conclusion that Poe was a second-rate writer who met a disgraceful end as a drunkard. Everyone, in fact, seems to believe this except a young Baltimore lawyer named Quentin Clark, an ardent admirer who puts his own career and reputation at risk in a passionate crusade to salvage Poe's.

　　As Quentin explores the puzzling circumstances of Poe's demise, he discovers that the writer's last days are riddled with unanswered questions the police are possibly willfully ignoring. Just when Poe's death seems destined to remain a mystery, and forever sealing his ignominy, inspiration strikes Quentin-in the form of Poe's own stories. The young attorney realizes that he must find the one person who can solve the strange case of Poe's death: the real-life model for Poe's brilliant fictional detective character, C. Auguste Dupin, the hero of ingenious tales of crime and detection.

　　In short order, Quentin finds himself enmeshed in sinister machinations involving political agents, a female assassin, the corrupt Baltimore slave trade, and the lost secrets of Poe's final hours. With his own future hanging in the balance, Quentin Clark must turn master investigator himself to unchain his now imperiled fate from that of Poe's.

　　Following his phenomenal debut novel, The Dante Club, Matthew Pearl has once again crossed pitch-perfect literary history with innovative mystery to create abeautifully detailed, ingeniously plotted tale of suspense. Pearl's groundbreaking research-featuring documented material never published before-opens a new window on the truth behind Poe's demise, literary history's most persistent enigma. The resulting novel is a publishing event that, through sublime craftsmanship, subtle wit, and devious twists, does honor to Poe himself

From the Hardcover edition.