For some reason I seem to have been doing a lot with books lately. Claire spends a fair amount of time trying to keep the St. Agnes library in some semblance of order and a few days ago I helped her move some books around in support of that effort. That inspired me to re-arrange the books in my office and I noticed that I seem to have quite a number of mystery books, or what I used to call \u201cdetective books\u201d when I was growing up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remember that in one of my literature classes, the instructor was particularly fond of Edgar Allan Poe, and he said that Poe had actually \u201cinvented\u201d the detective story. I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s totally accurate, but it appears that Poe\u2019s \u201cThe Murders in the Rue Morgue\u201d is considered by many to be the first detective story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course The Murders in the Rue Morgue was required reading when I was in school, and the story is about the extraordinary \u201canalytical power\u201d used by Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin to solve a series of murders in Paris. Dupin is a reclusive character that is contacted by the police when they are not able to solve a crime. He has keen powers of observation and points out to his roommate, who narrates the story, that \u201cthe necessary knowledge is of what to observe.\u201d There are clues throughout the story that offer the reader a chance to solve the mystery. Three of Poe\u2019s stories featured C. Auguste Dupin and that led to another feature of future detective stories \u2014 the recurring character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Almost forty-five years after Poe\u2019s death, the detective story was popularized by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle when he created Sherlock Holmes.
And if you bother to check, you\u2019ll see that Sherlock Holmes peculiarities are very similar to those of Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin.
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For some reason I seem to have been doing a lot with books lately. Claire spends a fair amount of time trying to keep the St. Agnes library in some semblance of order and a few days ago I helped … Continue reading