... part high-speed tour of Poe’s tumultuous career and part cold-case investigation of his premature and enigmatic end ... A Mystery of Mysteries vigorously pursues the various causes of death that have been suggested over many years of speculation ... Mr. Dawidziak’s approach has its shortcomings. He assembles a grand array of scholars, commentators, forensic scientists and Poe-obsessives, who are called in to offer expertise or simply opinion, and while this method has the benefit of introducing a panel of experts, the effect calls to mind a television documentary. The more we hear from this panel, the further the writer’s sensibility seems to recede.
Dawidziak’s thoroughly researched investigation meticulously explores the various theories surrounding Poe’s death while vividly capturing the public’s ongoing fascination with this quintessential tortured soul.
Dawidziak adopts a clever—and appropriate—organizational approach, alternating chapters set in the last months of Poe’s life with chapters exploring his early family life, career and influences ... Dawidziak’s biography reaches beyond the myth of Poe to reveal the actual man and writer, all while painting a vivid picture of the era in which he lived. A Mystery of Mysteries makes possible a deeper appreciation of a complicated, often troubled author whose success after death surpassed anything he knew in life.
Dawidziak cleverly frames his narrative as an investigation into the writer’s puzzling demise ... his sharp analysis of how Poe’s macabre pieces came to overshadow the rest of his work will give readers a fuller understanding of Poe’s varied artistry and character. This has revelations to spare.
Offering a sympathetic, if not revisionist, portrait, Dawidziak does rule out several theories about Poe’s death—rabies, carbon monoxide poisoning, a drug overdose, epilepsy, apoplexy, and liver disease, to name a few—to defend a well-grounded conclusion.
