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This year's Book-in-Common program presents The Poe Shadow, a peculiar puzzle and a fictional tale of mystery and intrigue.

Following his phenomenal New York Times best-selling debut novel, The Dante Club, Matthew Pearl has once again created a beautifully detailed, ingeniously plotted tale of mystery and suspense.  New York Times literary critic, Janet Maslin, says Pearl’s "groundbreaking research opens a new window on the truth behind Poe's demise, literary history's most persistent enigma, with documented material never published before. The resulting novel is a publishing event that ‘would make Poe himself proud.’”

Information on the Author

Matthew Pearl is the author of the novels The Dante Club, The Poe Shadow and his newest work, The Last Dickens. His books have been New York Times bestsellers and international bestsellers translated into more than 30 languages. He has been interviewed on numerous programs, including NPR's All Things Considered and Weekend Edition Sunday; and his books have been featured on Good Morning America and CBS Sunday Morning.

Matthew Pearl grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and is a graduate of Harvard University and Yale Law School. He has also taught literature and creative writing at Harvard University and Emerson College, and has been a Visiting Lecturer in law and literature at Harvard Law School. He lives in Cambridge, Mass.

For more information on The Poe Shadow, visit to Matthew Pearl’s website: http://www.matthewpearl.com/poe/book.html.