Edgar Poe and the Frontier Fiend (Edgar Allen Poe Mystery Series #3)

In this historical murder mystery Harold Schechter revisits the chilling world of Edgar Allan Poe and the Mystery Museum . During the sweltering summer of 1845, the savage murder of two girls shocks the citizens of Manhattan. Despite the bloody crime often depicted in his own writings, Edgar Allen Poe is just as shaken by this murder unleashed as the panic-stricken public. Suspicion of the killer's identity immediately swirls around Chief Wolf Bear, one of the human attractions at P.T. Barnum's American Museum. Convinced of his innocence, Poe begins his detective work, soon realizing that the city conceals a monster, one with an ever-growing appetite for human prey. As frenzied emotions course through the city, Poe uncovers a dark secret more powerful than anything he could have imagined--one that may reach the upper echelons of politics and privilege. This is literary fiction at its best, blending history, horror, crime and suspense. It was originally published under the title The Mask of Red Death.