Edgar Allan Poe and the Empire of the Dead by Karen Lee Street, Book Review

You don’t have to have read Edgar Allan Poe to enjoy this mystery set in 19th Century Paris. Karen Lee Street wrote an entertainingly gothic homage to the American author Poe, who in this novel is recently bereaved and gradually spiralling into a serious depression. Saved by a letter and ticket to Paris, the fictitious Edgar Allan Poe tries to help his posh but financially depleted friend the Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin track down an elusive criminal who brought down the Dupin family during the French Revolution.


Mid nineteenth century Paris with its creepy catacombs is an interesting alternative to the ever-popular London setting. Here Poe and Dupin are hired to track down a notorious thief and blackmailer, who might be able to give them a clue as to the whereabouts of Dupin’s evil nemesis. Karen Lee Street’s writing style is admirably suited to the period and the genre - dark, dramatic and expressive.  If you enjoy reading historical fiction or are a fan of Edgar Allan Poe, I can wholeheartedly recommend this gothic mystery with its twists and turns. And to get you started, I’ll give you the beginning, which I love:

‘It began with a cat.’

Edgar Allan Poe and the Empire of the Dead completes Karen Lee Street’s trilogy. The other two books are Edgar Allan Poe & the London Monster (2017) and Edgar Allan Poe & the Jewel of (2019). Karen Lee Street a British / American currently living in Australia has also been involved in writing screen plays and in the film world. Perhaps these books will be turned into a TV series in the future. I’d definitely be tuning in.

Edgar Allan Poe and the Empire of the Dead was published in October 2019 in Original Paperback by Point Blank (£9.99).


(T. Forsyth-Moser)