7/28/1841 Mary Rogers is found dead

July 28, 1841.  On this date the body of Mary Rogers, a clerk in a New York tobacco store, was fished out of the Hudson River.  Many possible explanations of her death were offered but nothing was ever proved.

Only one explanation need concern us because it was offered by Edgar Allan Poe.  He wrote a thinly disguised version called "The Mystery of Marie Roget."  It took place in Paris and starred his amateur sleuth C. Auguste Dupin. 

This was the second of three Dupin stories.  In this trilogy Poe created not just the roman a clef, mystery (that is, one based on actual people and events), but the genius detective, the narrating "Watson," the bumbling cops, the "obvious" clue, the least likely suspect....