Absolutely thoroughly enjoyed learning so many things about Poe’s life! Highly recommend. I’ll probably read it again because surely I missed a few things.

biography, historical-figures, historical-places-events, historical-research, history-and-culture, history-trivia, unputdownable, cold-case*****

It's the tintinnabulation of the bells.
No getting away from the fact that Poe was a genius and that he had a genetical physical problem with alcohol. But the life and times of the man is often lost amid the myths. This author takes his whole life as a cold case and does meticulous due diligence complete with an exhaustive bibliography. It also points to the many writers, screenwriters, and actors who revere him as the Father Of their particular genre. Great read!
I requested and received an EARC from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley. Thank you so much!

I am fascinated by the life of Edgar Allen Poe. I was nice to get an unbiased, fact based account of who he was before he became the image icon we know today. Pale faced, mustache, frown, a man deep in substance abuse. These are the modern image of Edgar Allen Poe.

Mark Dawidziak has presented us with a book written in an engaging story that is accessible. While the facts of Poe's life and death are presented, the mystery of his death will probably never be solved. What really occurred in the days and weeks before his death have been lost. It is nice, however, to get to meet the real person that Edgar Allen Poe was.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc. This is my honest review.

What a fabulous book! Many people have the an image in their mind of Edgar Allen Poe: the morose man of pop culture--the pale face, the mustache, the frown. And the substance abuse.

But his story is deeper, and author Mark Dawidziak paints a much clearer picture of Poe and the betrayals he faced as he struggled with his demons. If nonfiction intimidates you, then be assured this will not: Dawidziak's writing is clear and accessible, and A Mystery of Mysteries reads much more like a novel than a textbook. This is definitely a book for literature fans--Poe in particular.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read and review this book through NetGalley.

This was a very informative book about the life of Edgar Allan Poe. It told about his difficult childhood and his basically having no home life. Many of his stories could be tied in with what was going on in his life. He definitely loved his wife but her early death took a toll on him. The book gives a lot of facts and ideas, but leaves the readers to speculate on what really happened as with his death. Well written and not like a text book.

I was excited to read A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe to learn the “new light” Mark Dawidziak would share; while I appreciate the research that went into the work and the collaboration with other Poe scholars, unfortunately, there wasn’t any new insight. Readers, especially those of us who have read numerous biographies of Poe, are left with wading through a biography that merely recounts what other scholars have concluded. The author debunks the myth of the man but this also isn’t new information. I found the dual-timeline narrative an unnecessary addition.

Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy of this fact filled biography. I learned much about the life and times of the talented, often misunderstood author. With a fabulous bibliography of sources the author provides an opportunity to use the tantalizing details to attempt to piece together Poe’s last days as well as the life that lead him to the catalog of poems and stories that delight us today.

Edgar Allan Poe’s bizarre death paralleled the dark and twisted things he wrote about. Though there have been many things written about his death and his life, here Mark Dawidziak shed some new light. Told in dual-timelines, a new theory emerges about his cause of death.

As a long time Poe fan, I found this to be a refreshing look at his life. He was always a writer I admired for his ability to write such dark and twisted things with such emotion behind it. I enjoyed this look at his life.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC! This book will release February 14th.

This review will be shared to my Instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly 😊

It was incredibly difficult for me to read this piece of non-fiction, which purports on the surface to be an investigative look into the mysterious cause of Poe’s death and promises a sort of closed case on the matter, without viewing it through the lense of an educator grading a research paper. Having read Silverman’s biography already and all of Poe’s fiction, this book did not offer me much in the way of new information, though if anyone were to take up a new interest in reading about Poe, this biography, as short as it is, can provide a sort of introduction to basic facts about the writer.

To my significant disappointment, this book is very poorly composed. Much of the research relies heavily on what has already been written about Poe by previous biographers. I would expect a published work that touts itself as a “brilliant biography” to draw on primary sources and offer new insight from them, not glean snippets of observations from those who have already done so.

As to the form of the biography, I would not expect a paper written in the manner as this book is to be submitted as finished from an undergraduate university student, much less a published writer. Many quotes are dropped in the text without transitions or introductions, making for a very stilted reading experience. What’s worse, said quotes compose the majority of the content of the book, and it reads like a long string of copied and pasted direct quotes strung together by intermittent interjections of the author’s own writing. Additionally, some claims about Poe are placed very randomly in the middle of paragraphs with no evidence or sources. If this were handed in to me for a grade, I would promptly give it back and advise heavy revisions.

Lastly, the synopsis gives the impression that the biography will provide some new information about Poe’s cause of death by providing fresh insight about how he lived. While it does point out general misconceptions and falsities that have shaped popular belief about the writer (and are still being taught in many schools), it is not what it claims to be. It does not offer any new insight into Poe’s life (unless a reader had never read anything about Poe before). It does not give any new information about the death of Poe. All A Mystery of Mysteries really does is rehash what has already been written about Poe before. One cannot shed new light on something by using old light.

When most people hear the name Edgar Allan Poe, they immediately think of a grim and gaunt figure and the associated connotations - gloom, melancholy, madness, death and despair. The fact that most people are only familiar with his horror stories are partially responsible for this impression.

This biographical book focuses on EAP's final years leading up to his mysterious death, and sheds some light on his romantic relationships and friendships over the years. There was indeed some melancholy and even despair in Poe's life, but not to the extent that is generally believed. He experienced periods of great happiness and productivity in his life, often the times when some of his greatest work was produced. Of course he was also mercurial, querulous and needy - he made a number of enemies throughout his short life and some of them did their best to disparage his memory.

In 1849 he went missing for three days and when finally found, he was desperately ill and wearing someone else's tattered clothing. Deliriously feverish, he died in Baltimore at just 40 years of age.

The author attempts to put some clarity around these mysterious last days, and he does a reasonable job of providing a plausible explanation. He also shines a light on Poe's tragic losses, his need to be loved, struggle with alcohol and poverty and the series of friendships and enemies he made over his brief life and career. The author also wisely acknowledges that some of the mystery around EAP will never be solved and this mystique has helped him linger in the popular imagination for all these years. An excellent read - well-researched and fascinating. Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the copy to review.

This was a very detailed, exhaustive account of Edgar Allan Poe’s life & death, As a fan of his work, I enjoyed it. I had always liked Poe, and assumed I knew a little about him. But after reading this book, my biggest takeaway was how different Poe was in real life from his popular legend of a dark, tortured, spooky man. Apparently he was a little of that, but much more. Athletic, good humored, sharply intelligent, but also his own worst enemy and full of drama. There is still mystery surrounding his death & there always will be (best guess is died from tuberculosis or complications from it) but his life was pretty well documented & this was a fascinating, if perhaps overly detailed, read & I’d recommend it to any fan of literature.

I was not impressed with A Mystery of Mysteries by Mark Dawidziak. Poe was a predator and a nightmare to women. This will most likely be the last book I about him.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I can’t believe I’ve never read a book about Poe’s life. I’ve studied, read, and taught him for years. I also feel like I was super misinformed and shared this misinformation with my students. This book was a good one to read for someone who wanted to get a lot of info on his life and plausible theories of his death. Myths were debunked. Expert opinions were shared. All good stuff. The only thing I really didn’t like was that it flipped from way past to future and modern theories in a seemingly random way. I often started reading a section and got confused before figuring out when it was supposed to be taking place. Otherwise, excellently researched and presented. I feel like I got a lot of great factual info in this book.

This was clearly a thoroughly researched book. However, I was not a fan of the author’s writing style. The book jumps all over the place and I found that confusing. I would still encourage fans of Poe who want a thorough biography to give this book a try!

The book had a lot of interesting theories on Poes passing. A lot of interesting facts were provided. This book went into a lot of details on poes life he death still remains a mystery. Good book for anyone wanting to learn more about Poe

I enjoy the book immensely because it took away the spooky aspect of Poe's life and shows the real person behind all those stories that we love. It also gives a map to what made Poe the way he was and made him a real person to relate to.

I found that the life of Edgar Allan Poe was both very sad and very exciting. His life was very exciting when he was writing and when he was working at jobs that support his small family, but for some reason he seem to sabotage any progress he gains. Maybe it was because the people who loved him died when he was young or maybe it was because the people who were suppose to support him abandon him and made him feel like he was a burden. And what I gather from the book he must have been very lonely and had a problem with alcohol which made any problem he found himself in worst, and even though he made friends they never lasted.

And even in the end He seem to leave a sad story, the one about his death. It seemed no one knows what he died of, and there are only more stories than solution.

I want to thank St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a eye opening biography of Edgar Allan Poe.

This was such an interesting read. I’m a huge Poe fan, and I enjoyed the deep dive into his life and death. Definitely a must for any Poe fan or for those wanting to know more about this iconic author

Having never read any biographies about Edgar Allan Poe or knowing too much about him, I approached this with curiosity. I assumed, like many readers, that Poe was gruesome or otherwise interested in the macabre. His death, shrouded in mystery, was also fascinating. Although the structure of the biography is occasionally confusing, I found it to be a page-turner. Highly recommended if you have any interest in Poe or his writing.

Thanks to Netgalley for the arc to review.

I really wanted to love this book. The first 20% was a hard to follow as the book jumps around a great deal, even with a paragraph. The writing at time is very good and other times I had to reread to understand what the author was trying to say.

The issue I had with the book (and it might be just me) is the flow of the book. I was not sure where the book was going in the beginning. The book jumps in time a great deal and I really wish the book would have just gone in chronolectal order. A chapter would build on the story and then switch back in time, which caused the book to lose momentum. If the author or editor would have just placed everything in the proper time line the book would have been more enjoyable.

A Mystery of Mysteries (The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe) by Mark Dawidziak is a very fascinating a well detailed nonfiction read.
I remember learning and reading about EAP in high school. I remember being so fascinated by his life and work.
Mark Dawidziak has delivered a well written and interesting story, he provides a thorough understanding of Poe's life and legacy.
It's intelligent, informative and riveting.
Sad, but I haven't read anything about or from Poe in years.
It was a nice escape from my usual reads.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

St. Martin's Press,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!