LeRoy Miller reviewed The purloined letter by Edgar Allan Poe
Good story, I see a lot of Sherlock here.
4 stars
This was easier to read then I was expecting given it's age. Thou at times I did lose track of who was speaking. I think I've heard this story before, and if not - it reminded me a lot of how Sherlock works. If I didn't know that Poe wrote this, I would have thought it was a proto-Sherlock Holmes story. I was "forced" in high school to read a couple of Poe's short stories, and I never liked them. I'm sorry to say that experience turned me off reading any thing he wrote. Truly this was an error on my part, while I still find him hard to read, This story wasn't all that hard. I had a pretty good idea of where the letter was (or was going to be) - but perhaps that is because I think I have heard the story before (mistaking it for a …
This was easier to read then I was expecting given it's age. Thou at times I did lose track of who was speaking. I think I've heard this story before, and if not - it reminded me a lot of how Sherlock works. If I didn't know that Poe wrote this, I would have thought it was a proto-Sherlock Holmes story. I was "forced" in high school to read a couple of Poe's short stories, and I never liked them. I'm sorry to say that experience turned me off reading any thing he wrote. Truly this was an error on my part, while I still find him hard to read, This story wasn't all that hard. I had a pretty good idea of where the letter was (or was going to be) - but perhaps that is because I think I have heard the story before (mistaking it for a Sherlock story), or perhaps it is because I'm a fan of Sherlock and could just puzzle it out. Either way, this is a good proto-Sherlock story. (Without being a Sherlock Holmes story)
With all that - sometimes I did lose focus as to who was speaking. But for the most part this was better then I expected (as far as readability goes). And a story that I can see had a lot of influence for a number of others that followed.