Book Review: The Portable Poe

 Summary: This text includes all of Poe's best-known tales and poems, with representative articles, criticism, letters and opinions.

Thoughts: To be fair, I didn't read the entire book. I was really only interested in the mysteries but I found this giant collection for under four dollars at a used bookstore and couldn't resist, I fully intend to finish it at some point but not right now so this review is strictly for the four mysteries found somewhere near the middle. I've been on a mystery, detective kick for awhile now which of course means I have to go back to the man they call the 'Father of Detective Fiction'. It's said that Poe was the first to write it so I'm finally making my way round to him.  
 Edgar Allen Poe is known for his dark poetry and letters mostly but also for the four short mysteries included in this story. They carried with them all the dark and eerie feel of the detective fiction we know today and had some really complex plots (which is necessary of course in a mystery). 
 His first three stories feature the detective C. Auguste Dupin solving three separate cases. Dupin is a great detective and his deduction and reasoning were dizzying but followed a logical pathway to a most interesting conclusion each time. 
 The final story was about a mysterious gold bug and a man seemingly driven mad and was actually my favorite of the four. It took me awhile to figure out what was going on and I was extremely impressed with how the creepy and almost supernatural story ended in a surprising way. But that's how a mystery is supposed to be right?

Content: The first two detective stories feature blood, brutal murders, and a possible rape (the second case is drawn from an actual murder and was a little unclear on that subject). Sometimes Poe gets a little too carried away and gives us more details about the bodies than we need. D*** is used once or twice and H*** about the same. The last story was pretty creepy starting off and featured some long dead bodies at one point. 
 So while a good read for a mature mystery fan, this would not be appropriate for children, not to mention that old writing style would make it hard for most people to keep up with the story (I got lost several times). Still, a great beginning to world of detective fiction and a must read for mystery fans.