Mystery of Edwin Drood
by Charles Dickens
The biggest mystery of Edwin Drood's Secrets is how it ends. Like almost all of Dickens' novels, it began as a series, but with the author's death in 1870, only six episodes were published. What we know about Edwin Drood is this: he is engaged to a young woman named Rosa Bud; they love each other but are unsure of their common future. Jasper John – Edwin's eldest uncle and regular in London opium lairs – is captured by Rosa, as is Neville Landless, and they begin to compete for his love behind the scenes. Then, on Christmas Eve, Drud disappears, leaving behind only a needle and a pocket watch. What happened to Edwin Drood on that fateful night is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in literature, and more than 100 years after Dickens' death, it continues to attract the attention of readers, writers, and literary historians.
