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Summary

Quentin Clark is an attorney in 1851 Baltimore, obsessed with Edgar Poe and his death. He goes to Paris to find the man upon whom Auguste Dupin, detective in Rue Morgue murders, is based. He finds Auguste Duponte, but there is also Baron (faux title) Dupin, who is apparently a con man. Clark and Duponte come back to Baltimore and the Baron is already there and has apparently planted enough gossip so that Poe' circumstances are now being discussed. Before Clark went to Paris, no one wanted to investigate. Other characters, Neilson Poe, cousin, and his wife, who is half-sister to Poe's deceased wife. Also Hattie, Quentin's fiance, her aunt, and Peter, Quentin's law partner.