The Purloined Letter (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Edgar Allan Poe
- First Published: 1844
- Type of Plot: Mystery and detective
- Time of Work: The nineteenth century
- Setting: Paris, France
- Principal Characters: C. Auguste Dupin, The narrator, Monsieur G——, Minister D——
- Genres: Short fiction, Mystery and detective literature
- Subjects: Detectives, Theft
- Locales: Paris, France
The Story
The unnamed narrator and his friend, C. Auguste Dupin, are interrupted by the intrusion of the prefect of the Parisian police, who bursts in to tell the tale of the theft of a compromising letter from the bedroom of the queen by the unscrupulous Minister D——. The contents of the letter are never made known, but the prefect avers that he has been charged with retrieving it, and he further reveals that so long as the letter remains in the minister's possession, he will hold the queen in his power. The prefect details to the narrator and Dupin the extent of his...
[The entire page is 1527 words long]
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