Publisher's Weekly Review
Edgar Allan Poe once again plays detective in Street's excellent sequel to 2016's Edgar Allan Poe and the London Monster. In 1844, Poe is living in Philadelphia, where he receives a package containing three dismembered crows. Although the disturbing parcel was sent anonymously, Poe is certain that it came from his London nemesis, George Rhynwick Williams. His suspicions increase when Williams's lover, Rowena Fontaine, turns up in town under another name. Poe becomes more fearful after two more packages are delivered and one's contents suggest that C. Auguste Dupin, his partner in detection, may also be at risk. Meanwhile, Helena Loddiges, a woman who hired Poe to edit an ornithology book for her, entreats him to solve the murders of her father's bird collector, Andrew Mathews, and Andrew's son, Jeremiah. Jeremiah has appeared to her in a vision and asked her a cryptic question: "Where is the Jewel?" Street enhances the Grand Guignol plot with a plausible and empathetic portrayal of her lead. Agent: Oli Munson, A.M. Heath (U.K.). (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Sensitive Edgar Allan Poe and his mysterious comrade C. Augustus Dupin team up with Poe's wife and an eccentric taxidermist in Street's (Edgar Allan Poe and the London Monster, 2016) second novel.When Miss Helena Loddiges, last met during Poe's investigation into his family's sordid history in London, turns up on his Philadelphia doorstep with a message from a dead raven and concerns about a murdered friend, Poe can't turn her away. She's a welcome diversion, really, from his obsessive concerns about his wife Sissy's health. Despite Helena's outrageous hobby and sense of fashion, her story about Andrew Mathews, a bird collector, and his son Jeremiah, both of whom had recently traveled to Peru and then ended up dead, has the ring of truth, which seems confirmed when she is abducted. The heart of this mystery, and the most striking descriptions and imagery in the novel, revolve around birds; Andrew and Jeremiah kept journals of their South American discoveries, beautifully illustrated, and some of the pictures seem to be clues. Then there is the legend of "the jewel of Peru," a magnificent emerald buried in a tomb. Poe and Dupin must confront a formidable professor, several criminal priests, some violent nativists, and their old nemeses, George and Rowena Reynolds, to save Ms. Loddiges and discover the truth about the jewel. The mystery--in fact, the whole novel--offers more shiny surface than deep complexity, but it's fun. The descriptions of the birds and the focus on exotic places differentiate it from Street's first Poe/Dupin novel, and while there isn't as much need for "ratiocination," there is also less depressive, self-condemning narration from Poe. It feels a bit like old Indiana Jones returning for The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull--a bit ridiculous but entertaining all the same.An enjoyable romp through the drawing rooms, theaters, and docks of early-19th-century Philadelphia.
Booklist Review
In a case instigated by Charles Dickens' deceased pet raven named Grip, Poe teams with C. Auguste Dupin (a character in Poe's fiction come to life here) to ferret out evildoing. Unsettling packages sent to Poe's Philadelphia home in 1844 seem to him to be warnings from his nemesis, George Reynolds. But they are actually messages from London ornithologist and taxidermist Helena Loddiges, whose belief in ornithomancy (divination from observing the flight of birds) and dream of Grip suggested that she needed Poe's ratiocination to solve the murder of the man she loved, who was killed shortly after he returned from a research trip to Peru. In short order, Miss Loddiges is kidnapped, and Dupin arrives from Paris, believing Poe to be in danger. Someone will stop at nothing to obtain the legendary jewel of Peru, believed to be secreted in the tomb of the king of the Cloud Warriors high in the Chachapoyan Mountains. In the second of the Poe and Dupin trilogy (after Edgar Allan Poe and the London Monster, 2016), Street successfully combines historical fact with fiction. A particular treat for fans of the master of the macabre.--Leber, Michele Copyright 2018 Booklist
Library Journal Review
The second novel in Street's historical series (after Edgar Allen Poe and the London Monster) finds Edgar Allan Poe in Philadelphia in 1844, a city on edge from recent outbreaks of violence between nativists and Irish immigrants. Poe receives a perplexing package of preserved crow parts, soon followed by other disturbing parcels. He's sure an old enemy is responsible until English heiress Helena Loddiges begs his help to determine why her lover drowned upon his return from a Peruvian expedition. Helena claims to receive messages from birds and to have seen her lover's ghost, but a doubting Poe is reluctant to assist-until she is kidnapped. Poe summons his friend C. August Dupin to work on the case, embroiling both men in a mystery complicated by ornithomancy, past enemies, duplicitous priests, and a fabled jewel of Peru. VERDICT Street excels at seamlessly joining history and fiction, displaying a literary style not unlike Poe's, complete with touches of the macabre and melodramatic. Her depiction of Poe's relationship with Sissy, his young wife, and Muddy, his mother-in-law, is skillfully drawn and very touching. Fans of Poe and Dupin will look forward to more adventures of the detecting duo.-Barbara Clark-Greene, Westerly, RI © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
