Who killed Edwin Drood? Was it his opium-addict uncle, John Jasper, or the quarrelsome
Neville Landless? Or was Drood actually dead? Taking us from the calm cathedral town of Cloisterharn
to Londons filthy opium dens, Dickens creates a haunting atmosphere and slowly unravels the threads
of revelations, twisted though they may be.

It was not surprising that Charles Dickens, a close friend of Wilkie Collins, wrote a mystery novel. Further,
it is not surprising that his contribution to the genre is considered an outstanding work. Longfellow went
so far as to say of it, certainly one of the most beautiful of his works, if not the most beautiful of all.


Charles Dickens (1812 –1870) was born in Landport, Portsea, England, the second of eight children in a family continually plagued by debt. A legacy brought release from the nightmare of debtors' prison and child labor and afforded him two years of formal schooling. He worked as an attorney's clerk and newspaper reporter until his early writings brought him the amazing success that was to be his for the remainder of his life.