The Murders in the Rue Morgue Summary

This story begins with an epigraph from Sir Thomas Browne: "What song the Syrens sang, or what name Achilles assumed when he hid himself among women, although puzzling questions, are not beyond conjecture." In other words, no mystery, no matter how unsolvable it may seem, is beyond solving. This sentiment is definitely true of the murders that occur in the Rue Morgue.

Before we get to the details of the story, however, the narrator offers up a discussion of the analytical mind. To the analyst, what matters the most is his ability to untangle any tangled mystery. Analysis, though in some ways related to calculation, is much more. For example, he asserts, chess players must use calculation but they need not necessarily be analytical. Draughts (checkers) and whist are much more analytical, as...