ON NIGHT'S SHORE [Hardcover]

Randall Silvis (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Unknown (2001)
• ASIN: B0028QCNGI
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New York Times review, January 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: On Night's Shore: A Novel (Hardcover)

By MARILYN STASIO

The vibrant panorama of New York City in 1840 that Randall Silvis spreads before our eyes in ON NIGHT'S SHORE (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's Minotaur...) bears little resemblance to the flat, static scenes that unroll like so much wallpaper in most historical mysteries. Even more arresting is his sleuth, a wild-eyed newspaper journalist who signs himself E. A. Poe and makes his meager living peddling sensational crime stories like the one that captures his imagination here -- the murder of a shopgirl, Mary Rogers, whose bloated body is discovered in the Hudson River by Augie Dubbins, a 10-year-old ragamuffin who narrates the tale from the vantage of an old man.

The lively investigation conducted by this oddly matched pair of sleuths is interesting in its own right, providing rich background on the seminal short story (''The Mystery of Marie Rogt'') that helped establish Poe as the father of ratiocinative detective fiction. But let's give Silvis his own creative due. Despite his mannered tendency to ape what Augie calls Poe's ''funny way with words,'' Silvis delivers pungent impressions of the living city, exploring its mansions, slums, morgue, prisons, poorhouses and opium dens for all the ambient sounds and smells that define the character of a busy, brawling, unwashed metropolis.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poe mystery evokes New York, March 12, 2001

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On Night's Shore: A Novel (Hardcover)

In the summer of 1840 a New York street urchin witnesses a young woman throw her baby, then herself, into the murky Hudson River. Making a few pennies recounting the tragedy, ten-year-old Augie Dubbins meets an impoverished young journalist, Edgar Allan Poe.

Together they discover the body of another young woman caught under the docks and embark on an investigation which takes them from the squalor of the Five Points slums to the glitter of Fifth Avenue, where Augie learns that ruthless depravity thrives at all levels of society.

Narrated by Augie many years later "On Night's Shore" seamlessly incorporates elements of Poe's later tales into the narrative - "The Mystery of Marie Roget," "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Black Cat" - without overreaching. Poe is a gloomy, driven man whose genius is beset by poverty, nagging self-doubt and bouts of drunkenness. Augie, brutalized, clever, and resourceful ("in calamity, opportunity"), attaches himself to Poe as a father figure, enchanted by his family circle of consumptive, gentle wife and strong, generous mother-in-law.

Despite occasional backsliding into, respectively, despair and opportunism, Poe and Augie bring out the best in one another and together they delve into Mary Rogers' working class life, shattering several official versions of the murder on their winding path into the bastions of city power. Atmospheric and suspenseful, Silvis' ("An Occasional Hell," "Excelsior") character-driven story brings the city to life in all its cruelty and grandeur and the writing - mannered, gritty and eloquent - evokes the voice and sensibility of the time.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exciting historical mystery, December 29, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On Night's Shore: A Novel (Hardcover)

In 1840 New York, writer Edgar Allen Poe, needing something that pays the bills, accepts a job as a reporter for The Mirror. Obtaining the job is easy for Mr. Poe, but finding a story proves a bit more difficult until he meets ten-year-old waif Augie Dubbins, who seems to make a better than him by conning immigrants and stealing food. The ragamuffin child escorts Poe to the Hudson River docks where they find the corpse of Mary Rogers, a young shopgirl.

Poe reports the case in the Mirror. Due to the story grabbing the attention of the entire city, his editor sends him to conduct a follow-up article. The official investigation seems totally inadequate to Poe. Along with Master Dubbins, Poe begins his own inquiries not yet realizing the danger he places himself and his young sidekick in.

ON NIGHT'S SHORE is an exciting historical mystery that is very entertaining as it brings alive a bygone era in New York City. The historical references provide a feel for the period even as the author states he took poetic license with specific dates for improved plotting purposes. The sleuthing by Poe and partner is made to fit what is known of the writer so that the audience can picture him wandering the city in pursuit of a story. An elderly Augie looking back in time tells the story. This technique works because the narrator transposes his matured thought process and feelings onto himself as a child, which in turn gives the tale its heart. That feeling is more genuine because long-term memories are often obfuscated by time. Randall Silvis provides sub-genre fans with a delightful look at Edgar Allen Poe, amateur sleuth.

Harriet Klausner