Who killed Edwin Drood? Was he killed? We’ll never really know the answers because Charles Dickens died before finishing this, his last novel.
Perhaps the Victorian Age’s most iconic author, Charles Dickens died on 9 June 1870. Only a scant two months prior, Dickens’ newest tale, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, began appearing in monthly installments. He had reached the end of Chapter 22 before he died. The novel continued to appear posthumously until September of that year with the publication of this final chapter.
And the speculation of what really happened to Edwin Drood, whether he was killed or not, and by whom has continued to this day. As such, it is a perfect model for discussing the craft of mystery writing.
Stay tuned for future installments about The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Crafting the Murder Mystery Novel.
The Poisoned Martini 