only in retrospect.Two truisms concerning detective fiction today are also presented for the first time in this story of Poe's. First, the truth is what remains after the impossible has been determined - no matter how improbable that truth may seem. That is, the police determine or surmise that there was no possible exit from the room of the murdered women. The door was locked from within, and all the windows were securely locked. Second, the more apparently difficult case is and the more out of the ordinary the case is, the more easily, ironically, the case can be solved by the key detective.The problem in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" that has the police so stumped is simply how can a nonrational, inhuman being break through the bounds of law, custom, and civilized order and commit such a gruesome and horrible atrocity on two well protected women. The police cannot bring themselves to conclude that a human could possibly do this. The house is built in such a way as to protect it from the very acts committed there. The murders can only be solved logically when a person is able to place his human mind into conformity with a non-human mind and with the irrational acts of the "Ourang-Outang".In the opening sequence of the story, Poe offers some of the views expressed about the need of the detective to be observant, more so than the ordinary person. Furthermore, he must know exactly what to observe. The most casual movement or expression can often reveal more than the magnifying glass which M. Dupin never uses, even though the police constantly rely on one to help them solve crimes. The superlative detective must also be able to make the proper inferences from the things he observes. Here is why ingenuity becomes the most important aspect of solving a crime.The narrator first met Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin when they were looking for a rare volume in the library. Shortly thereafter, they become friends and share an old house to...
