Decades before the British super-sleuth Sherlock Holmes appeared on the scene, American author Edgar Allan Poe created the first detective story in a remarkable trilogy of short stories featuring genius French criminologist C. Auguste Dupin. The Murders in the Rue Morgue and its sequel The Mystery of Marie Roget represent the beginning of crime fiction and each story has been hailed as a masterpiece. In 'Morgue' the Parisian detective investigates the savage murder of a mother and daughter. In the follow-up, Dupin is on the hunt of a killer in a case based on the true story of Mary Rogers, a saleswoman at a cigar store in Manhattan whose body was found floating in the Hudson River in 1841. The Purloined Letter first appeared in The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1845, in December, 1844. Poe earned $12 for its first printing. It is now considered one of the greatest mystery short stories ever written.