The Purloined Letter

"The Purloined Letter" is one of Edgar Allan Poe's simplest detective stories. It is one of the three stories featuring the detective Auguste Dupin. It first appeared in The Gift for 1845 (1844) and was soon reprinted in numerous journals and newspapers.

Plot

Someone is openly, arrogantly blackmailing a royal by threatening to reveal a compromising letter. The success of the scheme rests on being able to produce the letter on a moment's notice. Despite being waylaid several times, and having his apartment ransacked, the blackmailer remains serenely confident. French police even dismantle his furniture and walls with scientific precision, yet are unable to discover the document.

Dupin, after assessing the intelligence of the blackmailer, realizes that he must have hidden the letter in plain sight, in the 19th century equivalent of a modern in-box. Dupin retrieves the letter and presents it to the police for a large reward.

Discussion

This story in particular aroused much speculation, especially between the French psychologist Jacques Lacan and philosopher Jacques Derrida, who exchanged countless letters based on this story on the nature of desire.