te Dupin, the first great detective of fiction. Dupin is abrupt, contemptuous of the police, and more like a reasoning machine than a human being, being both eccentric and brilliant. His unnamed friend, who is a devoted admirer of the detective's methods, is less brilliant but, at times, he is perhaps more rational and analytical than Dupin is. He never, however, has the flashes of genius that the detective exhibits; instead he begins with the tradition of the chronicler of the famous detective's exploits. In other words, he mediates between reader and detective, presenting what information he has to the reader, while allowing the detective to keep certain information and interpretations to himself. This technique has since been employed by numerous writers of detective fiction, the most famous being the Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson combination.Because it was Poe's first "tale of ratiocination", "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" introduces more basic features of detective fiction than any of Poe's other short stories. Among these basic features are three central ideas: (1) the murder occurs in a locked room from which there is no apparent outlet. The police are completely baffled as to how the murderer has escaped, because the doors were locked from the inside with the key inside with the victim, the windows apparently nailed shut, and the chimney blocked by one of the victims' bodies. (2) motive, access, and other surface evidence points to an innocent person. Frequently in detective fiction, the amateur detective is drawn into the case because a friend or acquaintance has been falsely accused, as is Adolphe Le Bon, who "once rendered me a service for which I am not ungrateful." Thus, M. Dupin is drawn into the case because of an obligation to the accused. (3) the detective uses some sort of unexpected means to produce the solution. One basic appeal of detective fiction lies in the unexpected solution, which becomes logical ...
