Valdemar's Daughter — Brian Stableford

Following the sad demise of Ernest Valdemar, as related in the story by Edgar Allan Poe, his mortal remains are dispatched to his daughter in Paris--but they do not arrive on schedule, and the Chevalier Auguste Dupin is forced to play detective yet again in tracking them down.

The mesmerists of the Philosophical Harmonic Society of Paris seem to be implicated in the mystery, most especially the society's enigmatic President, the Comte de Saint-Germain. In the meantime, Honoré de Balzac lies at death's door, convinced that only the magic of Valdemar's remains can save him. Dupin must race to solve the puzzle, if the great writer's life is to be saved. Will he thwart his adversary in the nick of time?