Much Ado about Drood

THE PROBLEM OF EDWIN DROOD.
By W. Robertson Nicoll.
Geo. H. Doran Co.
1912. $1.25

Portions of the review in THE NATION (January 16, 1913), archived here.

Excerpts:

Death took a hand in a fine piece of mystification, by stilling the voice of the great story-teller in the middle of "Edwin Drood." The world has been tolerably well content to leave half-told the story of Cambuscan bold, but the tale of Drood has been completed—in fancy—scores of times: the mystery of him is infinitely more absorbing than if Dickens had been permitted to solve it for us.

The mysteries of Drood and of Datchery are dealt with in this book.

. . . Sir Luke Fildes, the sole illustrator of the story (except for the wrapper), has testified that Jasper was provided with a double-length necktie because "Jasper strangles Edwin Drood with it."

 . . . it appears that there have been careful and prayerful students of the subject who, while they are ready to admit that Jasper did his best to erase his nephew with the aid of quicklime, and rejoiced in the belief that the method had been effectual, suggest that he may have been more sanguine than sanguinary.

See also these other reviews: THE OUTLOOK (January 4, 1913) (scroll to page 47) and THE BOOKMAN (February 1913).

For an information overload go here, here, here, and here.

Category: Detective fiction