About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherHarperCollins

ISBN-100156236001

ISBN-139780156236003

eBay Product ID (ePID)43058

Product Key Features

Book TitleD. Case : or the Truth about the Mystery of Edwin Drood

Number of Pages608 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year1993

TopicLiterary, Mystery & Detective / General, Mystery & Detective / Traditional

GenreFiction

AuthorFranco Lucentini, Carlo Fruttero, Charles Dickens

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height1.4 in

Item Weight10.4 Oz

Item Length9 in

Item Width6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2025-293562

TitleLeadingThe

ReviewsA bevy of fictional detectives--from Sherlock Holmes and Father Brown to Raskolnikov's nemesis, Porfiry Petrovich--convene at a conference in Rome to complete Dickens's last novel, left tantalizingly incomplete at the author's death. The playful collaborators (The Sunday Woman, 1973) intersperse chapters of Drood with their detectives' speculations; hence, most of the words here are Dickens's--and terrific words they are, as jovial, empty-headed Edwin Drood confesses his non-love to his long-plighted troth Rosa Bud (a non-sentiment she completely reciprocates); quarrels with swarthy, intense Neville Landless; and disappears following a Christmas Eve reconciliation party given by his opium-smoking uncle, choirmaster John Jasper--all amid a swirl of unforgettable minor luminaries, from kindly minor canon Septimus Crisparkle and fatuous auctioneer Thomas Sapsea to hypersensitive Helena Landless and mysterious investigator Dick Datchery. Dickens is a tough act to follow, however, and the present-day chapters are weakened further by the authors' (or their translator's) tin ear for the speech of Nero Wolfe, Philip Marlowe, and Lew Archer; of all the fictional detectives here, only Hercule Poirot consistently shines in a surprising variety of roles. After reviewing the evidence and endlessly debating the long-contested premise of Jasper's guilt, the conference plumps for a solution that's surprising, logical, well-documented, and entirely new--though most readers will wonder whether it's really worth all the byplay that precedes it. A clever, eventually successful tour de force, mostly for audiences who'd like to renew their acquaintance with Drood--and who don't mind paying top dollar for the privilege., Charles Dickens died before the last installments of The Mystery of Edwin Drood were written, so the book has tantalized readers for many years. In this clever combination of literary scholarship and satire, such famous fictitious detectives as Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Jules Maigret, and others gather at a conference in Rome to mull over the clues and offer their solutions to the mystery. As the discussion continues and the characters interact, even the relationship between Dickens and Wilkie Collins is brought into question. The text of The Mystery of Edwin Drood (also known as MED) is interspersed between their discussions. This is a very pleasant way of reading literary criticism. Recommended for public and academic libraries. - Ann Irvine, Montgomery Cty. P.L., Md.

Dewey Decimal823/.8

SynopsisThe authors combine the text of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, literary scholarship, the detective genre, and their knowledge of Rome to produce a hilarious, offbeat satire. Translated by Gregory Dowling. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book

LC Classification NumberPR4564.A1 1993