Dickens wrote Edwin Drood as a serial to be published (as were many of his other famous works) in monthly installments. When he died on June 9, 1870, at age 58, three installments had already been published and he had completed three more which appeared after his death.
However, he had planned to write 12 installments, so the story was only about half completed, and the mystery at its heart—the disappearance of the title character one stormy Christmas Eve—remained unsolved.
Almost immediately after the final installment appeared in September 1870, other authors tried their hand at finishing what Dickens had left undone. Some wrote serious versions of the story and attempted to imitate Dickens' style as closely as possible; others wrote humorous or satirical versions; and one author claimed he had literally "ghostwritten" his version with the assistance of Dickens himself —speaking from the Great Beyond.
The story also inspired a mock "trial" in 1914 in which literary figures such as G.K. Chesterton and George Bernard Shaw took part; at least four movie versions and two television series; and a popular musical in which the audience determines the culprit.
This edition includes original illustrations by Luke Fildes, created for the serial version of the story, and an afterword examining later attempts to solve the "mystery". It's now available at Amazon at a list price of $10.00.
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