Edgar Allan Poe and the Jewel of Peru

Edgar Allan Poe once again plays detective in Street’s excellent sequel to 2016’s Edgar Allan Poe and the London Monster. In 1844, Poe is living in Philadelphia, where he receives a package containing three dismembered crows. Although the disturbing parcel was sent anonymously, Poe is certain that it came from his London nemesis, George Rhynwick Williams. His suspicions increase when Williams’s lover, Rowena Fontaine, turns up in town under another name. Poe becomes more fearful after two more packages are delivered and one’s contents suggest that C. Auguste Dupin, his partner in detection, may also be at risk. Meanwhile, Helena Loddiges, a woman who hired Poe to edit an ornithology book for her, entreats him to solve the murders of her father’s bird collector, Andrew Mathews, and Andrew’s son, Jeremiah. Jeremiah has appeared to her in a vision and asked her a cryptic question: “Where is the Jewel?” Street enhances the Grand Guignol plot with a plausible and empathetic portrayal of her lead. [em]Agent: Oli Munson, A.M. Heath (U.K.). (Apr.) [/em]