Nevermore, by Harold Schechter

Harold Schechter, who has written several true-crime books regarding serial killers, has written four novels featuring Edgar Allan Poe as narrator and detective (along with the help of other historic personages.) Considering Schechter's penchant for documenting serial killers, you can rest assured that each of the Poe books will have some gruesome deaths...

I have only read the first book, Nevermore, and while I liked 90% of it, the graphic descriptions of the murders did put me off. Of course, anyone who reads books in which the coroner is the detective will be used to that kind of gore and not mind it!

Schechter's contention is that some of the events that happened real-life to Poe he then used for his short stories, like "The Fall of the House of Usher." Poe is a sympathetic character (as he was in real life, apparently. After his death, his "executor" turned out to be a man who really, really disliked him, and set about besmirching his name while profiting from his writing!)

At the beginning of this story, EA Poe is living in Baltimore with his 13-year old cousin and his cousin's mother. (Yes, Poe marries his cousin, but it must be remembered that back then, girls did get married very, very young. [Today, they just have sex very, very young.]]

He has written a review of Davy Crockett's autobiography, and that gentleman is so upset by it that he calls upon Poe and wants to have a public duel. Poe agrees. Before they can fight, however, they stumble across a murder....the first of several. Poe, the creator of Auguste Dupin, sees some clues that the police miss. This so impresses Crockett that he forgets the duel, and they team up to solve the crimes.

A few sample paragraphs:
"Where is Virginia?" I inquired after planting a filial kiss upon my aunt's ruddy cheek.

"Still abed."

"She sleeps like the dead." I remarked with a heartfelt sigh. "It is the repose of the innocent."

Muddy's broad broaw wrinkled as she inspected my countenance. "My gracious, Eddie, but you do look peaked. Another bad night?"

I acknowledged the accuracy of her observation with a melancholy nod. "Slumber - that blessed but fickle benefactress-withheld her sweet nepenthe from my soul."

She regarded me for a long moment before inquiring, "Do I take that to mean 'yes'?"

"That is, indeed, the significance I intended."

She patted my cheek. "Poor troubled boy," she commiserated. "I cannot help but believe that you would sleep more soundly if you spent less time locked up in that stuffy room, brooding on death and premature burial and whatnot. Perhapos you should try writing something...cheerier. Why, look at that delightful poem by Mr. Longfello, "The Village Smithy." Surely you could compose something equally charming if you would only put your miond ti it."

The earnest, if misguided, simplicity of my dear, well-meaning Muddy elicited from my lips a soft, indulgent laugh-whosde tone, however, was not untinged with a rueful awareness that the man of creative genius must ever be misunderstood, even by those most sympathetic to his strivings.

"Oh, Muddy!" I exclaimed. "Can I not make you see? The true artist must endeavour to give shape to the teeming phantasmagoria of the soul-to those swirling shapes and shrouded forms that spring, like a hideous throng of netherworld demonds, from the dark inner reaches of his own harrowed heart and anguished brain!"

The humor in the book comes from dialog such as this, where Poe's takes in two paragraphs what a simple person would say in two words. Usually, the dialog is between Davey Crockett, an intelligent man who neverthless speaks with a rustic accent, and Poe. However, these are not so frequently placed to be annoying, and overall Poe proves himself to be a man of rare courage. (The definition of courage being someone who feels the fear and does it anyway. This Poe is a man who feels the terror and does it anyway.)

Nevermore - Edgar Allan Poe joins Davy Crockett to solve a series of shocking murders in Baltimore in 1835.
The Hum Bug (2001) - Poe teams with Showman PT Barnum to solve a series of murders in New York.
Mask of the Red Death (2004) - Poe joins forces with Kit Carson to track down a liver-eating murderer. This also takes place in New York.
The Tell-Tale Corpse - Poe meets author Louisa May Alcott while in Massachusetts and they team up to solve a murder.