title: The Tell-Tale Corpse: An Edgar Allan Poe Mystery (Edgar Allan Poe Mysteries)
author:  Harold Schechter 
description: In the third Edgar Allan Poe mystery, set in late 1845, the amateur sleuth (and would-be literary giant) takes a trip to Massachusetts, looking for a cure for his wife's illness. Naturally, he finds mayhem and murder--a series of murders, in fact, mind-boggling in their deviousness. Aided by a plucky sidekick, one Louisa May Alcott (before she wrote <i>Little Women</i>),<i></i>Poe pieces together the clues and exposes a criminal mastermind. Schechter, who made his bones writing true crime, clearly has a solid grasp of evil's psychological underpinnings. The Poe novels are gimmicky, to be sure, like any mystery where the protagonist is a famous person, but Schechter makes sure the stories don't feel gimmicky. Poe, who narrates the novel, doesn't seem like a pastiche, and the plot itself is as well constructed as any more conventional mystery. This series could be around for a while. <i>David Pitt</i><br /><i>Copyright  American Library Association. All rights reserved</i>
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  THE BRUTAL TELLING
  
  
  
  
  
  ## THREE
  
  
  ![Image](resources/00002_1.jpg)
  
  
  ![Image](resources/00006_5.jpg)
  
  Dr. Sharon Harris stood, brushed her skirt clean and smiled thinly at the
  Chief Inspector.
  
  
  “Not much finesse,” she said.
  
  
  Gamache stared down at the dead man.
  
  
  “He looks like a tramp,” said Beauvoir, bending down and examining the man’s
  clothing. It was mismatched and worn.
  
  
  “He must be living rough,” said Lacoste.
  
  
  Gamache knelt down and looked closely at the old man’s face again. It was
  weathered and withered. An almanac face, of sun and wind and cold. A seasoned
  face. Gamache gently rubbed his thumb across the dead man’s cheek, feeling
  stubble. He was clean shaven, but what might have grown in would’ve been
  white. The dead man’s hair was white and cut without enthusiasm. A snip here,
  a snip there.
  
  
  Gamache picked up one of the victim’s hands, as though comforting him. He held
  it for an instant, then turned it over, palm up. Then he slowly rubbed his own
  palm over the de