On Night's Shore
A Novel
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
"A master storyteller." — New York Times Book Review
On Night's Shore brings us deep into the troubled psyche of Edgar Allan Poe and the power struggle between the sleazy underbelly and the business elite of nineteenth-century New York City.
Standing on the grimy banks of the Hudson River, street urchin Augie Dubbins spots a young woman toss her baby into the water, then jump in herself. As the only witness to the tragedy, Augie sees an opportunity to make a few pennies recounting the events, and in doing so encounters a struggling young journalist named Edgar Allan Poe, a poet and newspaper hack whose penchant for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time has earned him more than a few enemies.
When the unlikely duo discover the body of yet another young woman shortly after, they become entrapped in a mire of murder, greed, and power that stretches from the Five Points slums to the gleaming heights of Fifth Avenue.
Additional Praise for On Night's Shore:
"A riveting tale of murder and betrayal… On Night's Shore drips with descriptive power." — New York Post
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In 1840, when the poorhouse is the largest building on Manhattan island, a nicely drawn Edgar Allan Poe investigates the murder of shopgirl Mary Rogers in this updating of the original tale of ratiocination, with its post-Chinatown layers of political corruption and surprise piled upon shocking surprise. Such surprises have become common in the wake of the Towne screenplay, but the versatile Silvis--playwright, novelist (Mysticus; etc.)-does a solid job with the form. Poe based his seminal "The Mystery of Marie Roget" (the first crime story inspired by an actual murder) on the death of Rogers, but "at a distance... and with no other means of investigation than the newspapers afforded." Silvis puts him on the scene in a narrative Watsoned by the aged August Dubbins, who looks back to when he was 10 and Poe's assistant. Poetic observations by the older Dubbins are strong points, but little Augie is often a very weak link--more than once the Hardy Boys seem credible by comparison. Humor at the expense of the unwashed urchin may amuse some readers, who also might be put off by occasional verbose (but Poe-esque) flourishes, such as "odd brachiation in an unpredictable temperament." And extremely sordid details don't jell well with boyish adventure . Still, this is a satisfying literary mystery with a convincing picture of Poe as "a man in search of a sepulchred truth." . Handselling to fans of other historical literary thrillers, such as Caleb Carr's, could boost sales; and there may be some notice on the Net of this title, which contains parallels to the Frankfurt eBook Award-winning Paradise Square, which also features Poe as a detective.
