“Dear friends,I will be speaking at SMU this upcoming Monday, February 9, at 4pm atthe McCord Auditorium. The topic will be "The Thrill of History:Writing a Bestseller or Writing for Yourself," and I will bediscussing my novels THE DANTE CLUB, THE POE SHADOW and my upcomingnovel THE LAST DICKENS, which will be published March 17. I'll also bespeaking about creative writing and publishing in general.The event is free and open to the public, and of course I'd be happyto sign any books. This will be my first time in Dallas; forgive myTexas illiteracy, I'm sending this to all the Texans on my list,knowing that many areas are almost as far from Dallas as from Boston.I've been to Austin a few times and I'm excited to see more of Texas!Hoping to see and meet you there.Yours sincerely,Matthewwww.matthewpearl.com----MORE ON... THE LAST DICKENS:Pearl's latest literary historical mystery aligns perfectly with histwo previous works, the widely applauded Dante Club and the equallyesteemed Poe Shadow; like its predecessors, the novel is a brilliant,exciting thriller exactingly set in past times and involvingmysterious aspects of the lives of famous writers. This compellingyarn opens with a—yes, mysterious—scene set in 1870 India, in thewilds, when a mounted policeman invokes the name of Dickens whilechasing a robber. Zoom off to Boston on the same day, when a clerk ata publishing house, who was sent to take into his own hands, for hisboss, the advance sheets of the next installment of the recentlydeceased Charles Dickens' novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood, is rundown by an omnibus on his way back to the office, and the pages gomissing. This situation necessitates the publisher's going to Englandto attempt to ascertain how Dickens intended to end his novel. Justwhat do the seemingly disparate parts of the story have to do with oneanother? What the publisher becomes embroiled in, in London, is farmore complicated than simply manuscript detection. A whole world oflife-and-death nefariousness awaits both him and the reader, who willbe well rewarded.-- BooklistA rousing yarn of opium, book pirating, murder most foul, man-on-manbiting and other shenanigans—and that's just for starters. CharlesDickens is dead, and, inexplicably, people are beginning to diebecause of that fact—not because they've got no reason to live absentnew tales from a beloved author, but because said author's lastwork-in-progress contains evidence of real-life mayhem that itsperpetrators, it would seem, do not wish to see publicized. So runsthe premise that Pearl (The Poe Shadow, 2006, etc.), who specializesin literary mysteries, offers. The story unfolds on the docks ofBoston, to which an office boy has run to retrieve the nextinstallment of Dickens's Mystery of Edwin Drood, fresh off the boatfrom London. Said boy expires, unpleasantly, while a stranger of mostpeculiar manner is seen skulking in the vicinity, conspicuous by his"decidedly English accent" and "brown-parchment complexion,"suggestive of India and imperial milieus beyond. Dickens's Americanpublisher—better put, the only publisher in America who is paying theauthor royalties rather than stealing his work—sets out to solve thecrime and retrieve the manuscript, with the clerk's resourceful sisteron hand to help on a journey across oceans and continents. Meanwhile,our stranger is up to more nasty business, slashing throats, sawingbones and giving people the willies. It's clear that Pearl is having afine time of it all, firing off a few inside jokes at the publishingbusiness along the way: No matter that Dickens is dead with only sixchapters done, says his London editor a trifle ungrammatically, for"Every reader who picks up the book, finding it unfinished, can spendtheir time guessing what the ending should be. And they'll tell theirfriends to buy a copy and do the same, so it can be argued." Apleasing whodunit that resolves nicely... an imaginative exercise inwhat might be called alternative literary history.-- Kirkus Reviews”
“I would have to agree with hahtoolah. I tried reading "The Dante Club." I love mysteries and historical novels, so this sounded very intriguing. I found this author unreadable. It was like plowing through thick mud. I would not compare it in any way with "The Pearl Earring," which I loved. Sorry linda t.”
“The characters I have loved throughout my life came alive through Pearl's hand much like Vermeer in The Pearl Earring. No doubt his next book, out in March of 09 will do the same. ”
“This book was not a winner for me. It had gotten such rave reviews, so I tried to read it. Tried being the operative word. I haven't read The Poe Shadow, but after slogging through The Dante Club, I have no desire to read any of this author's other books.”
“Is this book a better read than Pearl's THE POE SHADOW? I tried reading that one, but gave up on it? A shame, because the premise sounded so intriguing (as does this one).”
“dante club...the poe shadow...adaptation from famous literature of dante aligheri and edgar A. poe,work from pearl..nice twist not too deep involving the original but good imagination and idea..i love them”
