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Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allen Poe, and the Invention of Murder

The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allen Poe, and the Invention of Murder

1 rating: 2.0

2006 non-fiction book by Daniel Stashower

A gruesome murder, a stunned city, and Edgar Allan Poe come to life with vivid detail in this shocking true story by award-winning author Daniel Stashower On July 28, 1841, the battered body of a young woman was found floating … see full wiki

Tags: Books, Nonfiction, History, 19th Century, Edgar Allan Poe

Author: Daniel Stashower

Genre: 19th Century

Publisher: Dutton Adult

Date Published: October 5, 2006

1 review about The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar...

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Odd mix of murder mystery and the life of Edgar Allen Poe.

Oct 23, 2009

by drifter51
posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

Rating:

I would certainly tend to agree with those who point out quite correctly that "The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allen Poe, and the Invention of Murder" appears to be more about the life of Edgar Allan Poe than about the unfortunate murder of a beautiful young woman. Nevertheless, author Daniel Stashower does a workmanlike job of weaving together the two stories that were so representative of life in New York City in the late 1830's and early 1840's. Times were tough indeed as the nation limped through a severe downturn in the economy.

The young lady who came to be known as "The Beautiful Cigar Girl" was Mary Rogers. In 1838 the proprietor of a local cigar emporium named John Anderson hired Mary to work as a salesgirl in his store. Thanks to his new hire and the convenient location Anderson's Tobacco Emporium proved to be an immediate and smashing success. Newspaper moguls, business leaders and government officials all frequented the store. Suddenly, Mary Rogers was somewhat of an "item" and her name would appear from time to time in various newspapers. As things turned out Mary Rogers only worked at Anderson's for a short period of time. However, when her her battered and bludgeoned body was fished out of the Hudson River on July 28,1841 the apparent murder of Mary Rogers became a sensation in the newspapers. The stories were rife with speculation and inuendo. Over the next year or so the story would take any number of strange twists and turns. And while the murder of Mary Rogers has never been conclusively solved the most likely scenario turns out to be quite surprising indeed!

In the meantime, it seems that Daniel Stashower devotes more than half of the pages of "The Beautiful Cigar Girl" to the life of Edgar Allan Poe. While Poe certainly did become involved in the case of Mary Rogers with his fascinating article "The Mystery of Marie Roget" I certainly had no reason to expect that so much of this book would be devoted to him. Since I knew very little about Edgar Allan Poe to begin with I really did not mind learning about his life here. It turns out that despite his obvious and enormous talent, Poe's penchant for self-destructive behavior would severely limit his ability to earn a living in the literary world. Time and time again, in job after job, Edgar Allan Poe would wear out his welcome. His story is both sad and tragic and one cannot help but wonder what might have been had Poe been able to overcome his personal problems.

In any event, the bottom line is that "The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allen Poe, and the Invention of Murder" was not quite what I had expected. Too many pages devoted to Poe really did seem to detract from the real reason I was reading this book--the murder of Mary Rogers. Despite its shortcomings, this is still a book that managed to hold my interest from cover to cover. Recommended.

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Adrianna November 14, 2010

Sounds like an interesting read despite its shortcomings. I ran across your review because I was making a new genre badge for Cafe Libri. Here's the list if you want to earn it: http://www.lunch.com/cafelibri/badges/Romanticists-22217-74-1-1.html

If you have any suggestions for more nonfiction badges, let me know! :)

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