Cambridge Preliminary English Test 6 Self Study Pack (Student's Book with answers and Audio CDs (2)): Official Examination Papers from University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations Book

"An inquiry will afford us amusement…"
The Murders in the Rue Morgue is considered the first detective fiction story. Poe's early detective fiction tales featuring C. Auguste Dupin laid the groundwork for future detectives in literature. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said, "Each [of Poe's detective stories] is a root from which a whole literature has developed... Where was the detective story until Poe breathed the breath of life into it?"
The character of Dupin became the prototype for many future fictional detectives, including Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. (source: Wikipedia)

I read this story first in high school later in college. I remember I didn't like it first, but later I learned to appreciate it.



An unknown narrator tells how he met and befriended Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin in Paris, and how Dupin solved an extraordinary crime.
"Truth is not always in a well. In fact, as regards the more important knowledge, I do believe that she is invariably superficial. The depth lies in the valleys where we seek her, and not upon the mountain-tops where she is found."
The story is creepy enough, the writing style is engaging (What else? It's Poe…), and the solution is the triumph of the analytic mind.