The 26th Annual Book Report Competition for Secondary School Students

Class: 4B

Name: Kwan King Yan

Title: The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter

Author: Edgar Allan Poe

Publisher: Commercial Press

It is a detective story written by Edgar Allan Poe. I have read some different kinds of detective stories before, but this story is the most special and can attract me most. The story is one of the earliest detective stories. I know many people appreciate the traditional detective story by Edgar Allan Poe.

I think the content of this story is very terrible and horrible when the people describe what they see after opening the door of the victims .A woman and her daughter were killed in the story in a horrible way. It made me feel frightened. Also, we can find some mysterious points involved in the case, such as the strange voice, the neighbours hearing the different languages from the killer, the incredible agility and the absence of any motive for the murders etc. Moreover, the murderer does not take away the 4000 francs which are in a bag on the floor. Also there is a finger mark of a beast. All of these are very strange, and it would not happen in our daily life, so I am especially interested in this story. All these mysterious points make the story become exciting and it can provide a chance for the reader to think about this knotty problem.

The other reason why I admire this book is that the book has very detailed description. For example, in Chapter 1 “Extraordinary Murder”, it shows a newspaper article as the starting of the whole story. The article is important and it tells us what happened and the background of the incident. And in the Chapter 2 “The Testimonies” shows us the testimonies of the neighbours and witnesses which can let us know more about what they have seen and heard. Both the newspaper articles and testimonies make me feel that it seems to have happened in my real life, so I have a deep impression of this story.

I am proud of myself for reading this book because this book is really famous. There are many detective stories, like Sherlock Holmes, Detective Conan, Richard Austin Freeman. But I know that “The Murder in the Rue Morgu”e is the soul of detective stories until now.

I learn detective stories through the television or comics most, but now, I will try to read more detective storybooks after this one. I find the differences between them. Reading a book gives me the chance to imagine.

Total no. of words: 403