title: Edgar Allan Poe's Richmond:: The Raven in the River City
author:  Christopher P. Semtner 
description: The curator of the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia, Christopher Semtner has served as author, coauthor or editor of eight books on Poe. He has created museum exhibits on "Poe in the Comics," "Poe's Mysterious Death" and "Poe in the Movies." The New York Times called the exhibit he curated for the Library of Virginia, "Poe: Man, Myth or Monster," "provocative" and "a playful, robust exhibit." Semtner regularly speaks on Poe at schools and libraries and recently appeared in the BBC documentary Edgar Allan Poe: Love, Death, and Women. In addition to his museum work, Semtner is an artist whose paintings have entered public collections, including those of the Poe House of Baltimore and the University of Maryland. His photography has appeared in the Washington Post, the Daily Telegraph and a number of other publications. He lives in Bon Air, Virginia, with three cats who allow him and his wife to share a house with them.
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  In Memory of Dulcie (1993–2000)
  
  and Spike the Elder (1984–1997)
  
  And with gratitude for Spike Jr.,
  
  who makes the unbearable bearable
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  > Lo! Death has reared himself a throne
  
  > In a strange city, lying alone
  
  > Far down among the dim West,
  
  > Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best
  
  > Have gone to their eternal rest.
  
  —Edgar Allan Poe, “The City in the Sea”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Contents
  
  [Epigraph](In_a_Strange_City_split_002.html#filepos953)
  
  [Prologue](In_a_Strange_City_split_004.html#filepos9731)  
  [ He begins on January 1…](In_a_Strange_City_split_004.html#filepos9731)
  
  [Chapter 1](In_a_Strange_City_split_005.html#filepos20463)  
  [ His card said he
  specialized…](In_a_Strange_City_split_005.html#filepos20463)
  
  [Chapter 2](In_a_Strange_City_split_006.html#filepos43302)  
  [ Two days out of five,…](In_a_Strange_City_split_006.html#filepos43302)
  
  [Chapter 3](In_a_Strange_City_split_007.html#filepos69082)  
  