632 books
—
1,292 voters
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “The Purloined Letter (C. Auguste Dupin #3)” as Want to Read:
The Purloined Letter
(C. Auguste Dupin #3)
by
Dans cette nouvelle, le détective Auguste Dupin est informé par G..., le préfet de police de Paris, qu'une lettre de la plus haute importance a été volée dans le boudoir royal. Le moment précis du vol et le voleur, D..., sont connus du policier, mais celui-ci est dans l'incapacité d'accabler le coupable. Malgré des fouilles extrêmement minutieuses effectuées au domicile du
...more
Get A Copy
Library Binding, 48 pages
Published
May 1st 1986
by Creative Education
(first published 1844)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
The Purloined Letter,
please sign up.
Popular Answered Questions
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Start your review of The Purloined Letter (C. Auguste Dupin #3)

Book Review
3+ of 5 stars to The Purloined Letter, a short story written in 1844, by Edgar Allan Poe. One of the most interesting facts about this story is that it involves Poe's detective Dupin, who also appears in The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Unlike the Rue Morgue, this mystery contains no gore or horror; it's pure mystery without the overall Gothic depths Poe usually goes to in his literary works. At its core, the story is about a letter that's gone missing, possibly stolen, havi ...more
3+ of 5 stars to The Purloined Letter, a short story written in 1844, by Edgar Allan Poe. One of the most interesting facts about this story is that it involves Poe's detective Dupin, who also appears in The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Unlike the Rue Morgue, this mystery contains no gore or horror; it's pure mystery without the overall Gothic depths Poe usually goes to in his literary works. At its core, the story is about a letter that's gone missing, possibly stolen, havi ...more

"Perhaps it is the very simplicity of the thing which puts you at fault."
My first Dupin-tale by Poe; and it was impressive! I enjoyed every bit of it. Very Engrossing. Explanations given by Dupin at the end of the story are epic and quenches all the thirst inside you. I can guess now why Sherlock Holmes despised Dupin. Conan Doyle, I'm sure, was inspired from these Dupin-tales that he created, on almost similar lines, Dr. Watson as the sidekick of Sherlock Holmes, and Lestrade as Mr. G-.
A very i ...more
My first Dupin-tale by Poe; and it was impressive! I enjoyed every bit of it. Very Engrossing. Explanations given by Dupin at the end of the story are epic and quenches all the thirst inside you. I can guess now why Sherlock Holmes despised Dupin. Conan Doyle, I'm sure, was inspired from these Dupin-tales that he created, on almost similar lines, Dr. Watson as the sidekick of Sherlock Holmes, and Lestrade as Mr. G-.
A very i ...more

Here we have the third appearance of master investigator C. Auguste Dupin. This time a royal letter was stolen by a minister. Can Dupin find the whereabouts of the letter? Prefect G is desperate since his men thoroughly searched the premises of the minister with no avail. Following Dupin's brilliant logic and sharp mind everything seems to be so easy to solve the case. Another well plotted and interesting story. In my opinion it was a bit weaker though than both its precursors. But nevertheless
...more

Starting off October with an Edgar Allen Poe detective mystery! "The Purloined Letter" is one of Poe's more memorable stories, featuring his amateur detective C. Auguste Dupin, who could give Sherlock Holmes a run for his money.
This story is more analytical than adventurous: Dupin and his friend, the narrator of the tale, sit in a dimly lit library, enjoying their pipes and their company, when the prefect of the Parisian police comes in with a tale of woe: Reading between the lines a little, the ...more
This story is more analytical than adventurous: Dupin and his friend, the narrator of the tale, sit in a dimly lit library, enjoying their pipes and their company, when the prefect of the Parisian police comes in with a tale of woe: Reading between the lines a little, the ...more

Making even the solitary molecules, or paired, frightened to the zenith so that they react in a chaotic demeanor, disrupting, terrible in elegance of expression and the redundancy of repression-- it's far too much for me, the mere proletariat with a reader's proclivity, to possibly endorse in the wholehearted method bestowed upon the gargantuan wave of Poe fanatics. The tale of the excessively (deceptively) obvious and bluff and double bluffs that go along with it (and the poker faces utilized a
...more

The Purloined Letter has been always one of my favorites. Without anything bloody or spooky, it is mysterious and entertaining.
Monsieur G—, the prefect of the Paris police arrives to Monsieur Dupin and asks for his help in a case he has made no progress so far. Dupin suggests him to continue to search the letter in question.
Monsieur G—, the prefect of the Paris police arrives to Monsieur Dupin and asks for his help in a case he has made no progress so far. Dupin suggests him to continue to search the letter in question.
"If it is any point requiring reflection," observed Dupin, as he forebore to enkindle the wick, "we shall examine it to better purpose in the dark."...more
"That is another of yo

When you consider the fact that detective fiction didn't exist when Poe wrote this story, it's pretty amazing. Two characters are smoking together one evening when a police official shows up with an intriguing mystery--a compromising letter has been stolen from a person of importance, and although the police know the thief's identify, they can't seem to find the letter anywhere. The policeman leaves without a solution to his problem, but by the next time he stops by, the mystery has already been
...more

Eh. Not my favourite of Poe's works by far, but I do respect it as a departure from his typical style and subject matter. The real reason I didn't like this is because it's almost entirely dialogue, and for a story that could have been interesting, 95% of it is spent rambling on about algebra and metaphysics.
...more

Apr 08, 2010
K.D. Absolutely
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommended to K.D. by:
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006-2010)
The Purloined Letter is a clean departure from my initial expectation of Edgar Allan Poe's works. I thought that all of his works were macabre and grotesque. This one is similar to the short stories of Sherlock Holmes. I have read the whole SH canon and I thought that there were so many similarities.
Wiki says that there are three of these detective stories starring his private detective C. Auguste Dupin. Just like Holmes, Dupin is more intelligent than the police investigators. However, Dupin's ...more
Wiki says that there are three of these detective stories starring his private detective C. Auguste Dupin. Just like Holmes, Dupin is more intelligent than the police investigators. However, Dupin's ...more

Oct 18, 2011
Bonnie
rated it
really liked it
Recommended to Bonnie by:
1001 Books to Read Before You Die
"Perhaps it is the very simplicity of the thing which puts you at fault."
Compared to the works of Arthur Conan Doyle, this was one I knew I couldn't possibly miss. I could see some similarities, but naturally, Sherlock was sorely missed. In his place, Poe's writing was an adequate replacement. The story was not full of any action; however, it was a recollection of the search that was conducted for the 'purloined letter' and the reasoning that sometimes what you're looking for is right under your ...more
Compared to the works of Arthur Conan Doyle, this was one I knew I couldn't possibly miss. I could see some similarities, but naturally, Sherlock was sorely missed. In his place, Poe's writing was an adequate replacement. The story was not full of any action; however, it was a recollection of the search that was conducted for the 'purloined letter' and the reasoning that sometimes what you're looking for is right under your ...more

3 Stars. "The Purloined Letter" is from a collection of fifteen stories, "The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales." The 1960 edition. The eighteen page story first appeared in late 1844 and features private detective C. Auguste Dupin in Paris. The three Dupin stories are precursors to the modern detective mystery. Four concepts come to mind: the brilliant amateur with whom the police consult, a companion who records the details, a devious criminal, and a proper analysis of the case being
...more

A Case of Blackmail
6 December 2018
There are a number of interesting factors to this story. It is the third of the Dupin stories and this one deals with a letter that has been stolen. Basically, the letter contains some compromising information and the thief is now using it as a form of black mail. Well, Dupin comes along and notices that the police have simply not been able to find the letter, despite searching every inch of the apartment. As it turns out, the thief used a trick known as hiding ...more
6 December 2018
There are a number of interesting factors to this story. It is the third of the Dupin stories and this one deals with a letter that has been stolen. Basically, the letter contains some compromising information and the thief is now using it as a form of black mail. Well, Dupin comes along and notices that the police have simply not been able to find the letter, despite searching every inch of the apartment. As it turns out, the thief used a trick known as hiding ...more

This is another story that I had to read for uni and I am glad that it wasn't as long as the first story. There was no long prologue this time, which was good as it dived right into the story. However, after the main character Dupin announced that he had solved the case, he went into a bit of a tangent explaining how he solved it. I felt that the examples were unnecessary and veered too much from the main story. Overall, it was not a bad story but like the first, this could have been shorter and
...more

"“As a poet and as a mathematician, he would reason well; as a mere mathematician, he could not have reasoned at all.”
Best Allan Poe I have read so far. And I thought he only wrote Gothic stories. I'm telling you this Dupin guy is grand daddy of Sherlock Holmes. You could almost see little Sherlock standing in corner silently taking notes with a admiring smile as Dupin explained to the narrator how he solved the mystery. ...more
Best Allan Poe I have read so far. And I thought he only wrote Gothic stories. I'm telling you this Dupin guy is grand daddy of Sherlock Holmes. You could almost see little Sherlock standing in corner silently taking notes with a admiring smile as Dupin explained to the narrator how he solved the mystery. ...more

Brief but makes you think.
Really intriguing. I need to re-read Poe's other detective stories, as I never saw so clearly that Sherlock seems a knock-off of this guy! I jumped to some of his own conclusions, but I admit some explanation in the middle bogged me down with the complex language. ...more
Really intriguing. I need to re-read Poe's other detective stories, as I never saw so clearly that Sherlock seems a knock-off of this guy! I jumped to some of his own conclusions, but I admit some explanation in the middle bogged me down with the complex language. ...more

Feb 19, 2010
This Is Not The Michael You're Looking For
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
The best of Poe's Dupin mysteries, The Purloined Letter is both the shortest and the most clever in execution. There's not much that can be said about it without spoiling the story, but it focuses on how we tend to miss the obvious.
...more

This is one of Poe's mysteries, and it might seem dated in today's era compared to the forensic technology and mysteries we deal with in the 21st century, this is still a very fun and classic read.
...more

Tend to steer well clear of these shorter works but this is featured on the Boxall 1000 list. Nicely atmospheric with a surprising little twist at the end.

Jul 23, 2015
Matt
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
zt-preparation-and-followup
The purloined letter(*) is synonymous with the original, radical subject of the unconscious.
This morning I kinda got lost on Wikipedia.
I wanted to get information about this book: Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
But my subconscious had obviously other plans and led me to Poe's story ... (**)
⤷ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tractat...
⤷ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwi ...more
This morning I kinda got lost on Wikipedia.
I wanted to get information about this book: Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
But my subconscious had obviously other plans and led me to Poe's story ... (**)
⤷ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tractat...
[This] is the only book-length philosophical work published by the German-Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein in his lifetime.
⤷ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwi ...more

With his tales of ratiocination--as he called them--Edgar Poe created a new way of thinking. Is there any doubt that C. Auguste Dupin sired Sherlock Holmes, "the world's most perfect reasoning machine"? If you don't believe me, read this story and Doyle's A Scandal in Bohemia side by side. The latter is a note-for-note copy of the former.
Of the three detective narratives written by Poe, The Purloined Letter is arguably the best. It may not be as famous as Murders in the Rue Morgue, but I find it ...more
Of the three detective narratives written by Poe, The Purloined Letter is arguably the best. It may not be as famous as Murders in the Rue Morgue, but I find it ...more

lacklustre plot, tedious descriptions and a predictable ending – definitely don't start with this one if you want to get into Poe.
...more

Kitapta yer alan öykülerin her biri kesinlikle çok güzeldi. Çalınan Mektup (The Purloined Letter) hariç her biri ayrı ayrı ürkütücü idi. Okurken çok büyük keyif aldım.
Kalabalıkların Adamı (The Man of the Crowd) ile Kuyu&Sarkaç (The Pit and the Pendulum) öyküleri özellikle çok etkileyici idi.
M. Valdemar Olayındaki Gerçekler (The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar) öyküsünde, hipnotizmaya ayrı bir boyut getiriyor Edgar Allan Poe. (view spoiler) ...more
Kalabalıkların Adamı (The Man of the Crowd) ile Kuyu&Sarkaç (The Pit and the Pendulum) öyküleri özellikle çok etkileyici idi.
M. Valdemar Olayındaki Gerçekler (The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar) öyküsünde, hipnotizmaya ayrı bir boyut getiriyor Edgar Allan Poe. (view spoiler) ...more

Dec 16, 2015
Christopher
added it
Scripta manent sed verba volant.
Perhaps I love this short story because of Lacan. Perhaps it's because of Derrida. My word, it might even be because of Edgar Allen Poe. It most certainly is not because of Marie Bonaparte. Barbara Johnson and Liahna Klenman Babener contributed, that's for sure.
A vaincre sans peril, on triomphe sans gloire.
This statement is unprovable.
True, the indexicality of the "this" in the last sentence invites ambiguity. "Thus it is that what the 'purloined letter,' nay, th ...more
Perhaps I love this short story because of Lacan. Perhaps it's because of Derrida. My word, it might even be because of Edgar Allen Poe. It most certainly is not because of Marie Bonaparte. Barbara Johnson and Liahna Klenman Babener contributed, that's for sure.
A vaincre sans peril, on triomphe sans gloire.
This statement is unprovable.
True, the indexicality of the "this" in the last sentence invites ambiguity. "Thus it is that what the 'purloined letter,' nay, th ...more

In a small room in Paris, the narrator sits quietly with his friend, C. Auguste Dupin. Monsieur G——, the prefect of the Paris police, arrives to consult Dupin on a case that is almost too simple: a letter has been stolen from the royal apartments. The police know who has taken it: the Minister D——, an important government official. The police attempt thorough investigations but come up with nothing. Identifying with the criminal mind, Dupin discovers evidence so obvious that it had gone unnotice
...more

3.75 stars (liked it)
A smartly-written and enjoyable short mystery which is entirely different from Poe's short horror stories and interestingly incorporates several areas of math and science, including logic and psychology, into the forensic discovery process. ...more
A smartly-written and enjoyable short mystery which is entirely different from Poe's short horror stories and interestingly incorporates several areas of math and science, including logic and psychology, into the forensic discovery process. ...more

Poe considered himself a poet first and foremost; he believed, as did most of his contemporaries, that poetry was the highest form of the literary arts. By the age of twenty-two, Poe had published three editions collections of his poetry: Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827), Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems (1829), and Poems (1831). https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/poe/e.... So when you see these lines within Poe's short story "Not altogether a fool," said G., "but then he's a poet, which I tak
...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Reading 1001: The Purloined Letter - Poe | 2 | 9 | Sep 20, 2019 07:45PM | |
The 1700-1939 Boo...: The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe | 5 | 23 | Nov 26, 2017 08:39PM | |
Gothic Literature: The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allen Poe | 1 | 9 | May 22, 2013 09:07AM |
The name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of
...more
Other books in the series
C. Auguste Dupin
(3 books)
Related Articles
"Horror fiction has traditionally dealt in taboo.… It makes monsters of household pets and begs our affection for psychos. It...
580 likes · 765 comments
17 trivia questions
More quizzes & trivia...
“That is another of your odd notions," said the Prefect, who had a fashion of calling every thing "odd" that was beyond his comprehension, and thus lived amid an absolute legion of "oddities.”
—
70 likes
“As a poet and as a mathematician, he would reason well; as a mere mathematician, he could not have reasoned at all.”
—
30 likes
More quotes…