The Mystery of Edwin Drood is Charles Dickens' brilliant contribution to the field of crime and detection. In fact, the novel is even more of a mystery than Dickens himself intended, for he died before completing it, making it a favorite of literary detectives.

Against a background of opium dens, nocturnal graveyard visits, and moldering monastic crypts, Dickens weaves a tightly knit plot centered on the ominous disappearance of young Edwin Drood. Suspected of foul murder are John Jasper, a drug-addicted choir-master who hungers after Drood's fiancee, and Neville Landless, a Ceylonese who had previously quarreled violently with the missing man. With dark, brooding atmosphere and masterful characterization, Dickens is at the height of his powers in this final and unsurpassed work.