The Hum Bug — Harold Schechter

Premier mystery author Harold Schechter revisits the chilling world of NEVERMORE in this novel of historical suspense, the second in his critically acclaimed series starring Edgar Allen Poe. It's the spring of 1844, and Edgar Allan Poe and his young wife, Sissy, have moved to the publishing centre of America, New York City. When P.T. Barnum, the 'Prince of Humbugs', advertises a display of Davy Crockett's authentic belongings, Poe is determined to reveal the man as a fraud. He knows for a fact that he himself owns at least one of the items Barnum claims to possess. Poe and Barnum are drawn together over the controversy, and Barnum appreciates the publicity Poe's expose provides his show. But when his emporium is linked to a brutal murder that imitates a display in Barnum's hall of true crimes, Barnum enlists Poe's help in discovering the killer before the bad publicity ruins his business. Sissy believes it is the ghost of the original murderer who has returned to seek revenge, as he promised on the gallows. Poe thinks there's much more to the case, and he's determined to solve it.