Mystery Review: The Dead Letter, purported to be the first full-length American detective novel, was written by Metta Fuller Victor (1831-85) under a pseudonym in 1864 or '66. She made a living as an author writing over 100 books while having nine children. Her best known work was an Abolitionist novel that was said to rival Uncle Tom's Cabin. The Dead Letter is a wonderful example of the novel as time machine, giving a strong sense of New York City in 1866, though oddly no mention is made of the American Civil War. To me, The Dead Letter is more interesting and enjoyable than a historical novel written today about that period, this being living history. Being of its time, foreigners, especially the Irish, come in for some disparagement (the Famine (1845-49) and the great emigration was still recent). This is not a top-notch example of mystery story-telling by today's lights. The concept of the red herring was apparently undeveloped, coincidence was overdeveloped, and the detective depends on supernatural elements to solve the crime. I can't tell if Victor (as S. Regester) truly believed or if the hocus pocus was simply a convenient device, though she also touts the healing powers of electricity. Ghosts, at any rate, are pooh-poohed. Much like Sherlock Holmes (twenty years later!), our doughty detective has made extensive scientific study (such as taking handwriting analysis to a magical degree) to aid in his deductive abilities. The book has been compared to Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone (1868) and other sensation novels. The writing is hyper emotional and melodramatic, but that very intensity and commitment succeeds in sucking the reader into the story. The Dead Letter is as interesting as a historical artifact as a mystery, Victor having created a strong, individual, and incredible (in both senses of the word) detective to carry the tale. Another entry in the Library of Congress Crime Classics series. [3½★]
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