Los Crímenes De La Calle Morgue (1901) - Plot & Excerpts
Having read a number of Sherlock Holmes stories over the past year our so, I was shocked to realise how similar these Dumas novels of Poe's are, except some fifty years earlier. One very impressive example is early in the story of the murders of the Rue Morgue, where Dumas knows what his companion is thinking before the thinker realises his mind is being read. This is almost identical to a story where Holmes answers a question that Watson has posed only in his own mind. I wonder if Poe was still alive and realised that Conan-Doyle was plagiarising him?Anyway, when reading this series of mysteries, if one can keep in mind how early they were written, and how so many authors after Poe used his concepts, I think we can be forgiving of the fact that the stories are not of the same standard as today's mystery-stories. Also of course, police procedure has come a very long way in 150 or so years. Really, they were first of their kind in some respects and so we need to give the author credit. A terrible double murder has occurred in Paris. The little physical evidence isn't conclusive and the few witnesses who heard the commotion have some intriguing differences in their stories. The police have arrested a man based on circumstances although none of the evidence points to him.Using only his intellect, Dupin, a Frenchman we're introduced to in the story, reasons out who committed the murders, how it was done, and why. Then to prove his theory, he places an advertisement in the daily paper meant to bring forth the only person who knows the truth of the matter.I wonder very much if this story influenced Conan Doyle when creating his famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, because it shares several essential elements.
What do You think about Los Crímenes De La Calle Morgue (1901)?
A classic. I didn't appreciate the disaparaging comments about the game of chess, however... :-)
—Philip
Entertaining and intriguing,easy to see the birth of every written detective since
—KORA
