UBC: Geary, The Mystery of Mary Rogers

[truepenny]

The Mystery of Mary Rogers by Rick Geary

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This graphic novel may be the best book I have yet read about the mysterious death of Mary Rogers. Geary's black and white art is charming (I know that's a funny word to use in this context, but honestly, I was charmed by his art even when he was drawing dead bodies); he's done his homework; and he does something most books about this case don't do: he stays concerned with what happened to Mary Cecilia Rogers? from start to finish. I greatly appreciate that in an author.

I believe The Beautiful Cigar Girl (Daniel Stashower) is the book to go to if you're interested in what was going on with Poe and "The Mystery of Marie Roget." Stashower's done some serious digging into Poe's literary biography, and I believe has a more accurate picture. But as a book about the murder of Mary Rogers, Geary's is excellent. He even provides theories about what happened that do a better job of making sense of the evidence than do any of the theories put forward at the time (including Poe's). And he never loses sight of Mary herself.



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