The Murders in the Rue Morgue

"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe first published in Graham's Magazine in 1841. Today, it is considered the first detective story. Poe referred to it as one of his "tales of ratiocination". C. Auguste Dupin is a man in Paris who decides to solve the mysterious brutal murder of two women in that city after a suspect has been arrested. Numerous witnesses are quoted in the newspaper as having heard a suspect, though the witnesses each think it was a different language. At the murder scene, Dupin finds a suspicious hair that does not appear to be human. He places an advertisement in the newspaper asking if anyone has lost an "Ourang-Outang". When he visits the sailor that answers the ad, he explains how he determined that the animal is the actual murderer in the Rue Morgue. As the first true detective in fiction, the Dupin character established many literary devices which would be used in future fictional detectives including Sherlock Holmes and Hercule... full article at wikipedia