Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Poe Shadow
    The Poe Shadow
    The Poe Shadow
    Audiobook14 hours

    The Poe Shadow

    Written by Matthew Pearl

    Narrated by Erik Singer

    3/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    INCLUDES MATTHEW PEARL'S EXCLUSIVE AUDIO AFTERWORD ON THE TRUTH BEHIND POE'S DEATH!

    Baltimore, 1849. The body of Edgar Allan Poe has been buried in an unmarked grave. Everyone seems to accept the conclusion that Poe was a second-rate writer who met a disgraceful end -- except for a young Baltimore lawyer named Quentin Clark, an ardent admirer who puts his own career and reputation at risk in a crusade to salvage Poe's.

    As Quentin explores the puzzling circumstances and unanswered questions of Poe's demise, he realizes that he must find the one person who can help: the real-life model for Poe's brilliant fictional detective character, C. Augustine Dupin, the hero of ingenious tales of crime and detection. Soon Quentin finds himself enmeshed in sinister machinations involving international political agents and the lost secrets of Poe's final hours, and must himself turn master investigator to escape Poe's grisly fate.

    Drawing on original, groundbreaking research, the bestselling author of The Dante Club has once again crossed literary history with sublime craftsmanship and devious twists to create a beautifully detailed, ingeniously plotted tale of suspense.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateMay 23, 2006
    ISBN9780743555807
    The Poe Shadow
    Author

    Matthew Pearl

    Matthew Pearl’s novels have been international and New York Times bestsellers translated into more than 30 languages. His nonfiction writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, The Atavist Magazine, and Slate. The New York Daily News raves "if the past is indeed a foreign country, Matthew Pearl has your passport." Matthew has been chosen Best Author for Boston Magazine's Best of Boston and received the Massachusetts Book Award for Fiction. 

    More audiobooks from Matthew Pearl

    Related to The Poe Shadow

    Related audiobooks

    Historical Mystery For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      In Memoriam: Anthony “One-Take Tony” Hollander

      Feb 28, 2019

      The audiobook community mourns the passing of one of its giants, a talent who famously earned a rare NC-17 rating for his recording of ‘The Portrait of a Lady.’ The post In Memoriam: Anthony “One-Take Tony” Hollander appeared first on The Millions.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Ninth House

      Oct 9, 2019

      RELEASED OUT NOW! 450 pages | Hardback/ebook/audiobook Author Leigh Bardugo Publisher Gollancz Fantasy writers were fascinated by schools and colleges long before Harry Potter caught the train to Hogwarts, and it’s fairly easy to draw up a list of th

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Four Best Audiobooks Of June To Take You Places

      Jun 23, 2020

      Hardboiled mysteries, obscure farming communities, and tales of home and family provide ample entertainment in June’s audiobook roundup.

      2 min read

    • Article

      A Pearl Of A Biography

      May 3, 2022

      John Boessenecker, a San Francisco trial lawyer and former police officer, has also become one of the leading historians on crime, outlaws and lawmen of the Old West. A recipient of both a Spur Award from Western Writers of America and a best book aw

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Great Waugh Story

      Feb 9, 2022

      The Great Waugh Story
      5 min read

    • Article

      The march OF TIME

      Aug 3, 2022

      As I watched the newsreel footage on television, the memories came flooding back. It was a programme highlighting the year 1984. The place was Trafalgar Square. I had been young and passionate in those days, and I had been there. The occasion was a

      3 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Aug 13, 2020

      Richard George ends his article “The ‘roll-off’ factor” [FT394:57] by offering an apparently unlikely role reversal: “Inspector Morse and MR James. Indeed, healthy scepticism may be more fortean than an uncritical acceptance of the supernatural. Mors

      14 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Sep 11, 2023

      Books
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Oh-so Clever Life Of O’Brien

      Feb 24, 2022

      FOR A WOUNDING DEFINITION of the virtuous man it is always worth revisiting Tom Stoppard’s 1982 play, The Real Thing. Stoppard was writing about Brodie, a jailbird turned writer (at least in his own imagination), and in his famous “cricket bat” speec

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Life Well Lived

      Nov 10, 2022

      A Life Well Lived
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Haunted Writing Life of John Polidori

      Apr 19, 2023

      Polidori is simultaneously unknown but influential, a failure but also the progenitor of an enduring literary trope: the vampire. The post The Haunted Writing Life of John Polidori appeared first on The Millions.

      14 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Jun 17, 2019

      Sayaka Murata is a bestselling author in Japan, but this is the first of her 10 books to be translated into English. Written in a style that is somehow slightly dislocated from honest emotion – something I quite often think about Japanese novels (a f

      4 min read

    • Article

      Chris Bohjalian

      Apr 12, 2021

      Chris Bohjalian
      12 min read

    • Article

      Edgar Allan Poe Was a Broke-Ass Freelancer

      Sep 12, 2017

      For his entire oeuvre—all his fiction, poetry, criticism, lectures—Poe earned only about $6,200 in his lifetime, or approximately $191,087 adjusted for inflation. The post Edgar Allan Poe Was a Broke-Ass Freelancer appeared first on The Millions.

      8 min read

    • Article

      Looking Over The Overlooked

      May 11, 2021

      The last person Julia Bricklin wants to write about is some historical figure whose name alone fills volumes. So nothing from Bricklin about Jesse James or Calamity Jane. Instead, she seeks out women and men often overlooked by biographers. The caree

      3 min read

    • Article

      Metta For My Abuser

      Jun 7, 2022

      Metta For My Abuser
      10 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Poe Shadow

    3/5

    44 ratings36 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 1/5
      As many others, I too can't believe that the author of The Dante Club wrote this book OR that he had the same editor. What a shame.
    • 2/5
      I wanted to like this book, I really did, but I found it hard to care about Quentin Clark's obsession.
    • 1/5
      I started this book but could only get to around 100 pages. I just didn't like the story, the characters, and most especially the writing. Its awful. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but it doesn't flow. Its like driving on a highway made of speed bumps.I didn't like his first book either, though I finished it. Both books were local book group selections, or I never would have picked them up. I just couldn't force myself to finish this one.
    • 4/5
      Pearl's second novel, the Poe Shadow shows definite improvement from his first, The Dante Club.While The Dante Club was an excellent book itself, Pearl seemed to struggle in intorducing the plotline and all the characters. As a result, I found it diffuclut to make my way through the first 100 pages or so.In The Poe Shadow, Pearl does a much better job introducing the premise of his book. Instead of having to force myself through the opening chapters, I was quickly ensnared in the plot of the book.The book takes place in Baltimore in the 1850's, from the day of Edgar A. Poe's funeral to a time roughly 2 years later. Pearl brilliantly uses fictional characters and real historical figures, along with the real events surrounding Poe's cryptic death, to try to recreate the last week of Poe's life.To any fan of Pearl, Poe, or historical fiction, Matthew Pearl's The Poe Shadow is a must-read. And while you're at it, check out The Dante Club too.4 Stars.
    • 3/5
      An intruiging and interesting read.
    • 1/5
      Having struck paydirt with his Dante book, Pearl seems convinced that the key to continuing fortune is to continue to write historical fiction about mysterious dead writers. In this work, he's sadly missed the mark. Allow me to sum up this pathetic excuse for a mystery novel. A lawyer, curiously obsessed with the writings of Poe, risks position, family, fortune, and life in order to discover the truth behind the mysterious death of the author, who never appears within the pages of this novel alive. He travels to Paris to track down the real-life Dupin--or is this the real Dupin?--and then goes through all manner of danger, disappointment, and distress. But in the end, it all pays off, right? Sure! In the end we discover that he's basically wasted a couple of years of his life in order to accomplish exactly NOTHING! The intriguing plot twist at the end of The Poe Shadow is that there is nothing to be discovered. It's a Po' Shadow of a real thriller/mystery.
    • 1/5
      Much like the 8/15/08 review posted by Bart in which he "recommends it for: no one but a hard core Edgar A. Poe or Matthew Pearl fan", I must concede defeat on this one and admit that I just could not get past the first 100 or so pages of this book. It seems that I am neither a hard core Poe fan, nor a hard core Matthew Pearl fan. Now that I think about it, I didn't finish Pearl's first book "The Dante Club" either. Just couldn't get into it. The more I get into this website and really looking for good books (and finding so many!), the more I realize life is too short to waste on finishing books that don't excite you. Nothing about this book excited me.
    • 3/5
      Although the information is interesting, and the authour presents an interesting tale of Edgar Poe's last days, the storytelling is slow and tedious.
    • 2/5
      Mystery novel about the death of Edgar Allan Poe. Could have been reduced by 200 pages. Too long, too detailed and too boring. We discussed this in book club and many people did not like.
    • 3/5
      Intriguing and meaty...very wordy and circular. It seemed to topple (toward the end) under the weight of its own self-conscious complexity, but at that point I was just anxious to be done with it so read on, determined to see it through. I'm not sure that I'll seek out more books by this author. I appreciate the original research that went into the book but got the sense that the author was trying too hard.
    • 3/5
      I would have liked it more had it been shorter, a little more coherent, and if the narrator was a little less of a wuss.
    • 1/5
      I just couldn't get into this book. I struggled with it for a while hoping that it would pick up but there was just too much about the neurotic protagonist.
    • 1/5
      Frankly, I just didn't like this book. I don't know why. I started it twice and dropped it both times about 1/3 of the way through. More than anything else, I think I just didn't like the main character, and that's usually enough to make me lose interest.
    • 1/5
      I just couldn't ride the zeal of the main character to shed light on the mysterious circumstances regarding Poe's death. I found him overly whiny and naive. And I couldn't help but side with the characters around him who see him as being a downright selfish fool. I did enjoy reading the big theory, or the result of Duponte's investigation, plus the notes at the end of the book.
    • 3/5
      Quentin Clark, a Baltimore attorney, is obsessed with Poe's death. He is determined to resolve it with the help of the person who was the basis for Poe's character Dupin. Has he chosen the right Dupin? Will the mystery surrounding Poe's death be resolved? I had difficulty forcing myself to finish this book. The book did not hold my attention. The book was at least 100 pages too long. I never felt a connection to the lead character. I would much prefer to read the primary source materials from which this work was drawn than this work which does not do a very good job of combining the facts surrounding Poe's death with a fictional sleuth to investigage it.
    • 4/5
      I found The Poe Shadow, by Matthew Pearl, much more enjoyable than my first encounter with this author, The Dante Club. This may have been due, in part, to Poe being a much more familiar literary figure than Dante. I also found his descriptions of mid nineteenth century Baltimore much richer than the more distant past of Boston Pearl wrote about in the other book.Matthew Pearl weaves a wonderful historical novel around the missing last days of Poe’s life. There are certain documented historical facts concerning Poe’s last days, such as his trip to raise money, but he then vanishes until he mysteriously turns up in Baltimore, like a figure from one of his own works, at death’s door in a bar room being used as a polling place, where in his few lucid moments raves incoherently. Pearl seizes on this and even goes so far was to enlist the aid of one of Poe’s creations, Inspector Dupin and a second figure, also claiming to be the model for the noted crime solver.What follows are two interpretations the known facts about the time immediately preceding Poe’s death until he is actually buried. The story resembles a prolonged version of the tale of the blind monks encountering an elephant, each touching a different portion of the animal and each convinced that what they feel is the true nature of what an elephant is really like. We really do not know what happened to Poe during the missing time, but Pearl delivers an entertaining possible explanation.If you remember that this is a work of fiction and do not concentrate on the reality of Poe, the story is a wonderful period piece of life in Baltimore of a time long since past. I do not know how much of Perl’s research on Poe is entirely new, but I found his views plausible. If you are a fan of Poe, check this out. If you enjoy historical fiction or real life mysteries, this is worth your time. A good solid four star work.
    • 1/5
      I could not make myself stick with this book. I rarely fail to finish a book, even if I'm not enjoying it at all. But this one I just could not force myself to stick with after 100 pages. The central conceit of the story--that a promising young Baltimore lawyer would risk everything he has to investigate the real circumstances around Edgar A. Poe's untimely death, and do so solely on the strength of an appreciation of his work and a modest acquaintance--is barely plausible to begin with. But then the extents to which he goes to pursue his investigations on the barest evidence that there's any real mystery to solve just pushed my patience to the breaking point. Plus, Pearl seems determined to make the book a period piece, true down to the most minute details to the mores of the time. But in the process he produces a "hero" who is so effete and unprepossessing that he comes across a complete ninny who would never have the gumption to do what he's doing. The second problem aggravates the first of the plot's utter implausibility, and I jus couldn't suspend disbelief long enough.
    • 2/5
      I was listening to this as an audiobook and had to quit. I had high hopes for it, but it was tedious and completely unbelievable. I couldn't buy the premise that the protagonist felt compelled to defend the honor or memory of E.A. Poe, for no real reason. And once I didn't buy the premise, the rest of it just seemed silly. Admittedly, I didn't finish the book, maybe it got better.
    • 3/5
      The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl is a fictional work that pretends to solve the mystery of Edgar Allan Poe's death. After the first page into the book, I became convinced that the writer didn't have a good editor. There's a sentence on the first page that makes no sense without the insertion of 2 commas. Anyhow, the reviews weren't too great for this book, but I was determined to like it and plod through to the end.Pearl uses a ficticious character, Quentin Clark, to try to find the basis for Poe's famous fictional detective, Dupin. Clark travels to France in search of the real Dupin (at peril to his engagement and career) so that he can solve Poe's mysterious death. Pearl's research of the known facts surrounding Poe's death is used for his characters to form hypotheses about what happened in Poe's last days and who might have been responsible (if anyone) for his untimely death. In the end, there's really only one hypothesis that seems to stand out to me with more merit than the others. Even after much research, the final verdict of what happened to Poe still seems like a huge guess. I was intrigued, however, by the hypothesis that the reason for Poe being found unconscious and dressed in shabby ill-fitting clothing shortly before his death is that a clothier snagged him out of the soaking rain and offered him shabby dry clothes in exchange for his nice wet ones. This seems plausible since dry clothes are more valuable than wet ones if you don't have another change of clothing on hand.There was but one quotable quote from the entire book that made me stop and think for a moment: "Our own past perversity, not that of others, sets us against someone for life."While this isn't universally true 100% of the time, it is true in many cases and became a basis for Dupin's final complete hypothesis about who might have been considered to be an enemy of Poe if indeed his death was the result of an enemy rather than accidental. Unfortunately, by the time I got to that point in the book, I didn't care why Poe died and couldn't remember why I ever cared.If anyone has The Poe Shadow on their reading list, I think I'd recommend it with reservations. It's obvious that the writer went to great pains to do a lot of research for the book. However, it's also obvious that much of the episodes in the book come from him trying to find a way to insert things from his research. It's got the quality of a BBC detective movie and would honestly be better in that format. While the idea behind the book is rather intriguing, the follow-through leaves much to be desired. I couldn't finish the last hundred pages of the book fast enough because, by that point, I frankly didn't care about the characters and didn't care to hear one more hypothesis of Poe's death trumped by another one.I think the ending to the story should have been more or less like that of "The Cask of Amontillado": "No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells. My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so. I hastened to make an end of my labour. I forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up. Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!"At the end of Pearl's research, there was still no answer to the mystery of Poe's death. All he can ever make is a guess as to what happened to him. But, perhaps, with the final word of this novel -- the final "stone" in place -- Pearl can feel free to leave Poe to rest in peace and re-erect the former position the world has had that the reason for Poe's untimely death is, in fact, unknowable.
    • 4/5
      The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl.A fictional take on the death of Edgar A. Poe based on existing and new research by the author. I had read The Dante Club and so knew what to expect with this....a great book and was not disappointed.The main character Quentin Clarke seeks to set the record straight re the treatment given to Poe after his death. He seeks the help of the man that Poe based C. Auguste Dupin on to help with this investigation and travels to Paris to find him.He ends up with one of the two Dupins trying to make people believe his version of the death of Poe while the other does not seem to want to be seen in publis at day time. Leading to a finale where we see Clarke nearly lose everything and the truth behind the death stays an enigma.A book to read when you have a weekend spare. If you put it down for a while it can take a few pages to get back in the flow of events. The ending is slow though be warned but it explains the lose ends from earlier in the book......so be patient.
    • 4/5
      Wasnt sure about this to start as Iv not read the dante club but have an interest in poe. It was well written with plenty of facts and an intrigueing plotline. My only problem with the book was there were a few places where it seemed a struggle to get through it. It does take some concentration in parts to keep up with all the data that is being said but it was still very enjoyable
    • 3/5
      Baltimore lawyer Quentin Clark becomes fascinated and obsessed with the mysteries surround Edgar Poe's death. He in turn begins his own investigation that includes a trip to Europe to capture the believed real life model of Poe's fictional detective Auguste Dupin from the The Murders in the Rue Morgue fame.This investigation takes months almost years and the story seems to drag on for that amount of time as well. It isn't as well drawn out as previous Pearl novels. It took a long time to read. It certainly could have been shortened and thus much more enjoyable. I did like the ending. The protagonist on the other hand seems to be a bit of an obsessed idiot.
    • 4/5
      Wasnt sure about this to start as Iv not read the dante club but have an interest in poe. It was well written with plenty of facts and an intrigueing plotline. My only problem with the book was there were a few places where it seemed a struggle to get through it. It does take some concentration in parts to keep up with all the data that is being said but it was still very enjoyable
    • 3/5
      Set in Baltimore in the mid-1800s. A young man, Quentin Clark, is a huge fan of Edgar Allan Poe and is distraught when his favorite author dies unexpectedly. Putting his own life on hold he begins to research the man and the mystery, even traveling to Paris to try to find the inspiration for the detective Dupin, to help him solve the questions surrounding Poe's death. Clark is a stiff and awkward leading man. He always seems to be out of the loop and is the last to figure out anything. The story lags and it was hard stay interested. I honestly think I would have preferred to read a nonfiction book discussing Poe's death, instead of this mystery novel. Pearl did a great job researching the book and the factual information is fascinating. I've been a Poe fanatic for a long time, so it was worth reading, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't.
    • 4/5
      Not really sure how I felt about this one. Overall it was a great idea, but WAY too drawn out. Got me reading Poe again though.
    • 2/5
      Permit me to begin my review with a confession. (Ha! A clever literary conceit.) I read The Poe Shadow, by Matthew Pearl, after having read his later book, The Last Dickens. I believe this minor action on my part may explain why I favor the latter work in preference to the former, an opinion that seems contrary to those of my fellow readers. It is the key to unlocking this mystery.But first a summation of the plot: Young Baltimore barrister Quentin Clark, unhappy in his practice and stifled by the expectations of polite society, takes it upon himself to solve the mystery of the passing of his favorite author, Edgar Allan Poe. In pursuit of his quest, which borders on obsession if not madness and takes him from Baltimore to Paris and back, Quentin imperils his livelihood, his relationships, his good name and his freedom. Will our young hero prevail?The Poe Shadow shares many of the strengths of The Last Dickens, particularly Pearl’s recreation of nineteenth century America. (1850s Baltimore in the former; 1870s Boston and London in the latter.) Pearl has clearly done his homework; he is at his best and recreating the historical settings of his novels, both geographically and socially, as well as their ambiance. Indeed, Pearl accomplishes this more successfully in The Poe Shadow than he does in The Last Dickens. Reading The Poe Shadow, I could “see” nineteenth century Baltimore and its people, something that few books have evoked for me since my days as a history major in college. This is truly great stuff.Where the novels differ most is in Pearl’s treatment of his characters, and this is The Poe Shadow’s flaw. Quentin, as befits the hero of a mystery who is not the character to solve that mystery, is something of a blank slate: He is Watson, not Holmes; his purpose is to serve as an audience to which the solution of the mystery can be explained, thus enlightening the reader, too. Pearl’s attempts to flesh out Quentin’s personality--his indifference to the expectations of society and his obsession with Poe--work against Pearl’s aims, though; Quentin, who in pursuit of the truth of Poe’s death is really “seeking himself,” comes off as merely whiny and crazed--not attractive traits in a main character. Likewise, the Frenchman Auguste Duponte, the investigator upon whom Poe’s celebrated character, Dupin, may or may not be based, seeks truth using his brilliance, a quality so in abundance it permits him to act as offensive and uncouth. He is also, despite his intellect (or perhaps because of it), something of a bore. Really, when Duponte begins to go on at length near the end of the book--when a reader might expect to be turning the pages quickly, anxious to solve the riddle--I couldn’t help but be annoyed. These are not easy characters to enjoy.That, then, is the crux of the problem I alluded to earlier in my review: In The Last Dickens, the leads were far better drawn than are Quentin and Duponte. The hero of The Last Dickens, James Osgood, is himself the “detective” of the story, which serves two purposes: It eliminates the need for a “raticinator”/sidekick paradigm such as that evident between Duponte and Quentin; and it permits the story to move forward more quickly. Yes, there is something to be said for an author taking his or her time to create atmosphere, which, I’ve already said, Pearl does splendidly, but, frankly, there were times when The Poe Shadow just dragged, a sensation I never had while reading The Last Dickens.Perhaps it is uncharitable of me to review one of an author’s books by comparing it to one of his later works. (Perhaps I have read too much of Pearl lately, and it is reflected in my syntax and my usage of terms such as “uncharitable.”) But the damage had already been done! How was I to know that The Poe Shadow would be overshadowed (heh) by The Last Dickens? My recommendation: If you have a high tolerance for this sort of thing, by all means, read The Poe Shadow. You will enjoy it. If you’re not a consumer of mysteries and/or historical fiction, though, steer clear of Quentin and Duponte in favor of The Last Dickens.
    • 3/5
      The Poe shadow is basically about a man trying to clear his favourite author's bad name by hiring a man he believes Poe's fictional detective(Dupin) is based on. As the reviewers before me have pointed out, Pearl has done everything he can to make it factually correct in every aspect. Whilst some of it is intesting to know, a lot of it seems pointless and we are told the same details over and over again. It took me a long time to start enjoying the book and it does pick up in the last 150 or so pages so only buy if you are prepared to force yourself to keep going.
    • 4/5
      The 2nd of Pearl's book, I was very eager to find it after reading the Dante club. It's a great read, imaginative & evocative with plot twists that match the 1st. However at times it relies on coincidence too much, and the ending is a bit anti-climactic. Apparently Pearl has done much original detective work himself on the case & uncovered unknown evidence & clues...
    • 4/5
      A very nice mystery novel surrounding the death of the famed author Edgar Allan Poe. Pearl uses the real life events surrounding the death of Poe and creates fictional characters who task themselves to investigate the mysterious demise of Poe. In fact Pearl does extensive research surrounding the mystery of Poe's last few days and weaves it very well into his story. You get a good sense of his fictional protagonist, Quentin Clark, as someone who really could have been in Baltimore discovering the secrets surrounding the death of one of America's unique mysteries.
    • 2/5
      Not badly written, but very slow. The main character is very unlikable in my opinion, which makes this book difficult to read. The supporting characters, Duponte and Dupin, are both dynamic and interesting so they make this novel berable.