An Unpardonable Crime: Andrew Taylor

This book impressed me with the voice, it was very reminiscent of a Sherlock Holmes murder mystery. The narrator, Thomas Shield, and "detective" is a teacher and one of his wards was Edgar Allen Poe. Throughout the book the profession of a professor was characterized as in the servant class and Shield is constantly told what to do. He meets Poe's absent father and solves three murders, one of whom was Edgar's father. The characterization of Edgar Allan Poe was fasinating. I didn't realize "Allan" was actually the last name of the family who adopted him. In this story Edgar and his friend Charlie, who is remarkably similar to him, seem to carry Shield to the right place at the right time to solve the mysteries. There is also a little love story that fizzles out at the end only to be rekindled.