The Mystery of Edwin Drood

For other uses, see The Mystery of Edwin Drood (disambiguation).

The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Cover of serial No. 6, September 1870
Author(s)	Charles Dickens
Illustrator	Samuel Luke Fildes
Cover artist	Charles Allston Collins
Country	England
Language	English
Series	Monthly: April 1870 - September 1870 (six of twelve numbers completed)
Genre(s)	Fiction; Murder Mystery; Social Commentary
Publisher	Chapman & Hall London
Publication date	1870
Media type	Print (Serial, Hardback, and Paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0198124392
Preceded by	Our Mutual Friend

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is the final novel by Charles Dickens.^[1][2] The novel was left unfinished at the time of Dickens' death, and his intended ending for it remains unknown. Though the novel is named after the character Edwin Drood, the story focuses on Drood's uncle, choirmaster John Jasper, who is in love with his pupil, Rosa Bud. Miss Bud is Drood's fiancée who has also caught the eye of the high-spirited and hot-tempered Neville Landless, who comes from Ceylon with his twin sister, Helena. Landless and Drood take an instant dislike to one another. Drood later disappears under mysterious circumstances. Dickens died before he could finish the mystery.

The story is set in Cloisterham, a lightly fictionalised Rochester,^[3] and feelingly evokes the atmosphere of the town as much as its streets and buildings^{[clarification needed]}.

Summary

The novel begins as John Jasper leaves a London opium den.^[4] The next evening, Edwin Drood visits Jasper, who is the choirmaster at Cloisterham Cathedral. Edwin confides that he has misgivings about his betrothal to Rosa Bud. The next day, Edwin visits Rosa at the Nuns' House, the boarding school where she lives. They quarrel good-naturedly, which they apparently do frequently during his visits. Meanwhile, having an interest in the cathedral cemetery, Jasper seeks the company of Durdles, a man who knows more about the cemetery than anyone else.

Neville Landless and his twin sister Helena are sent to Cloisterham for their education. Neville will study with the minor canon, Rev. Mr Crisparkle; Helena will live at the Nuns' House with Rosa. Neville confides to Rev. Mr Crisparkle that he had hated his cruel stepfather, while Rosa confides to Helena that she loathes and fears her music-master, Jasper. Neville is immediately smitten with Rosa and is indignant that Edwin prizes his betrothal lightly. Edwin provokes him and he reacts violently, giving Jasper the opportunity to spread rumours about Neville's reputation of having a violent temper. Rev. Mr Crisparkle tries to reconcile Edwin and Neville, who agrees to apologize to Edwin if the former will forgive him. It is arranged that they will dine together for this purpose on Christmas Eve at Jasper's home.

Rosa's guardian, Mr. Grewgious, tells her that she has a substantial inheritance from her father. When she asks whether there would be any forfeiture if she did not marry Edwin, he replies that there would be none on either side. Back at his office in London, Mr. Grewgious gives Edwin a ring which Rosa's father had given to her mother, with the proviso that Edwin must either give the ring to Rosa as a sign of his irrevocable commitment to her, or return it to Mr. Grewgious. Mr. Bazzard, Mr. Grewgious's clerk, witnesses this transaction.

Next day, Rosa and Edwin amicably agree to end their betrothal.

They decide to ask Mr. Grewgious to break the news to Jasper, and Edwin intends to return the ring to Mr. Grewgious. Meanwhile, Durdles takes Jasper into the cathedral crypt. On the way there Durdles points out a mound of quicklime. Jasper provides a bottle of wine to Durdles. The wine is mysteriously potent, and Durdles soon loses consciousness; while unconscious he dreams that Jasper goes off by himself in the crypt. As they return from the crypt, they encounter a boy called Deputy, and Jasper, thinking he was spying on them, takes him by the throat, but seeing that this will strangle him, lets him go.

On Christmas Eve, Neville buys himself a heavy walking stick; he plans to spend his Christmas break hiking around the countryside. Meanwhile, Edwin visits a jeweller in order to repair his pocket watch; it is mentioned that the only pieces of jewellery that he wears are the watch and chain and a shirt pin. By chance he meets a woman, who is an opium user from London. She asks Drood's Christian name, and he replies that it is 'Edwin'; she says he is fortunate it is not 'Ned,' for 'Ned' is in great danger. He thinks nothing of this, for the only person who calls him 'Ned' is Jasper. Meanwhile, Jasper buys himself a black scarf of strong silk, which is not seen again during the course of the novel. The reconciliation dinner is successful, and at midnight, Drood and Neville Landless leave together to go down to the river and look at a wind storm that rages that night.

The next morning Edwin is missing, and Jasper spreads suspicion that Neville has killed him. Neville leaves early in the morning for his hike; the townspeople overtake him and bring him back to the city. Rev. Mr Crisparkle keeps Neville out of jail by taking responsibility for him: he will produce him anytime his presence is required. That night Jasper is grief stricken when Mr. Grewgious informs him that Edwin and Rosa had ended their betrothal; he reacts more strongly to this news than to the prospect that Edwin was dead. The next morning Rev. Mr Crisparkle goes to the river weir and finds Edwin's watch and chain and his shirt pin; no other trace of him is found.

A half year later, Neville is living in London near Mr. Grewgious's office. Mr. Tartar introduces himself and offers to share his garden with Landless; Mr. Tartar's chambers are adjacent to Neville's above a common courtyard. A stranger, who calls himself Dick Datchery, arrives in Cloisterham. He rents a room below Jasper and observes the comings and goings in the area. On his way to the lodging the first time, Mr. Datchery asks directions from Deputy. But Deputy will not go near there for fear that Jasper will choke him again.

Jasper visits Rosa at the Nuns' House and professes his love for her. She rejects him, but he persists; he says that if she gives him no hope, he will destroy Neville, the brother of her dear friend Helena. In fear of Jasper, Rosa goes to Mr. Grewgious in London.

The next day Rev. Mr Crisparkle follows Rosa to London. When he is with Mr. Grewgious and Rosa, Mr. Tartar calls and asks if he remembers him. Rev. Crisparkle does remember him, as the one who years before saved him from drowning. They do not dare let Rosa contact Neville and Helena directly for fear that Jasper may be watching Neville, but Mr. Tartar allows Rosa to visit his chambers in order to contact Helena above the courtyard. Mr. Grewgious arranges for Rosa to rent a place from Mrs. Billickin and arranges for Miss Twinkleton to live with her there so that she can live there respectably.

Jasper visits the London opium den again for the first time since Edwin's disappearance. When he leaves at dawn, the woman who runs the opium den follows him. She vows to herself that she will not lose his trail again as she did after his last visit. This time she follows him all the way to his home in Cloisterham; outside she meets Mr. Datchery, who tells her Jasper's name and that he will sing the next morning in the cathedral service. On inquiry Datchery learns she is called "Princess Puffer." The next morning she attends the service and shakes her fists at Jasper from behind a pillar.

Dickens's death leaves the rest of the story unknown. However, he did provide his own summary of the story as planned in a letter to his friend and biographer John Forster:

His first fancy for the tale was expressed in a letter in the middle of July. "What should you think of the idea of a story beginning in this way?--Two people, boy and girl, or very young, going apart from one another, pledged to be married after many years—at the end of the book. The interest to arise out of the tracing of their separate ways, and the impossibility of telling what will be done with that impending fate." This was laid aside; but it left a marked trace on the story as afterwards designed, in the position of Edwin Drood and his betrothed. I first heard of the later design in a letter dated "Friday the 6th of August 1869", in which after speaking, with the usual unstinted praise he bestowed always on what moved him in others, of a little tale he had received for his journal, he spoke of the change that had occurred to him for the new tale by himself. "I laid aside the fancy I told you of, and have a very curious and new idea for my new story. Not a communicable idea (or the interest of the book would be gone), but a very strong one, though difficult to work." The story, I learnt immediately afterward, was to be that of the murder of a nephew by his uncle; the originality of which was to consist in the review of the murderer's career by himself at the close, when its temptations were to be dwelt upon as if, not he the culprit, but some other man, were the tempted. The last chapters were to be written in the condemned cell, to which his wickedness, all elaborately elicited from him as if told of another, had brought him. Discovery by the murderer of the utter needlessness of the murder for its object, was to follow hard upon commission of the deed; but all discovery of the murderer was to be baffled till towards the close, when, by means of a gold ring which had resisted the corrosive effects of the lime into which he had thrown the body, not only the person murdered was to be identified but the locality of the crime and the man who committed it. So much was told to me before any of the book was written; and it will be recollected that the ring, taken by Drood to be given to his betrothed only if their engagement went on, was brought away with him from their last interview. Rosa was to marry Tartar, and Crisparkle the sister of Landless, who was himself, I think, to have perished in assisting Tartar finally to unmask and seize the murderer.^[5]

Characters

• Edwin Drood – an orphan. When he comes of age, he plans to marry Rosa Bud and go to Egypt, doing engineering with the firm where his father had been a partner.
• Rosa Bud – an orphan and Edwin Drood's fiancée. Their betrothal was arranged by their fathers.
• John Jasper – the choirmaster of Cloisterham Cathedral, Edwin Drood's uncle and guardian, and Rosa Bud's music master. He secretly loves Rosa. He visits an opium den in London.
• Neville and Helena Landless – twin orphans. They are from Ceylon, but it is not clear to what extent they are Ceylonese. In their childhood they were mistreated and deprived. Neville is immediately smitten by Rosa Bud. He is more proud than is good for him, and his integrity prevents him from making an insincere apology to Drood. Helena and Rosa become dear friends.
• Rev. Septimus Crisparkle – minor canon of Cloisterham Cathedral and Neville Landless's mentor.
• Mr. (Hiram) Grewgious – a London lawyer and Rosa Bud's guardian. He was a friend of her parents.
• Mr. Bazzard – Mr. Grewgious's clerk. He is absent from that post when Datchery is in Cloisterham. He has written a play.
• (Stony) Durdles – a stonemason. He knows more than anyone else about the Cloisterham Cathedral cemetery.
• Deputy – a small boy. "Deputy" is not his name but rather a handle he uses for anonymity. If he catches Durdles out after 10 pm, he throws rocks at him until he goes home. Durdles pays him a halfpenny for doing so.
• Dick Datchery – a stranger who takes lodging in Cloisterham for a month or two.
• Princess Puffer – a haggard woman who runs a London opium den frequented by Jasper. She is unnamed in most of the book. "Princess Puffer" is the handle by which Deputy knows her.
• Mr. (Thomas) Sapsea – a comically conceited auctioneer. By the time of Drood's disappearance he has become Mayor of Cloisterham.
• Mr. Tope – the verger of Cloisterham Cathedral.
• Mrs. Tope – the verger's wife. She cooks for Jasper and rents lodging to Datchery.
• Miss Twinkleton – the mistress of the Nuns' House, the boarding school where Rosa lives.
• Mrs. Tisher – Miss Twinkleton's assistant at the Nuns' House.
• Mrs. Crisparkle – Rev. Crisparkle's widowed mother.
• Mr. Honeythunder – a bullying London philanthropist. He is Neville and Helena Landless's guardian.
• Mr. Tartar – a retired naval officer. He resigned his commission in his late twenties when an uncle left him some property, but he lives in London, being unaccustomed to the space of a large estate.
• Mrs. Billickin – a widowed distant cousin of Mr. Bazzard. She rents lodging in London to Rosa and Miss Twinkleton.

Hints and suspicions

The murderer

Although the killer is not revealed, it is generally believed that John Jasper, Edwin's uncle, is the murderer. There are three reasons:

1. John Forster had the plot described to him by Dickens: "The story...was to be that of the murder of a nephew by his uncle."^[6]
2. Luke Fildes, who illustrated the story, said that Dickens had told him, when they were discussing an illustration, "I must have the double necktie! It is necessary, for Jasper strangles Edwin Drood with it."^[6]
3. Dickens' son Charles stated that his father had told him unequivocally that Jasper was the murderer.^[6]

The book gives other hints:

1. It describes a nightly scene in which Jasper goes secretly with Durdles to the graveyard. Jasper sees quicklime, at that time believed to hasten the decomposition of bodies.
2. A day before he disappears, Edwin talks with Princess Puffer in the graveyard. She tells him "Ned" is in great danger. Later it turns out she has been following John Jasper from London, and he told her something in his state of intoxication. Furthermore, Jasper is the only one who refers to Edwin Drood as "Ned".
3. On the day Edwin is reported missing, Jasper is informed by Grewgious, Rosa's guardian, that she and Edwin had broken off their engagement. Jasper collapses in a state of shock: could it be because of a murder that was unnecessary?^[7]
4. Rosa Bud has always been afraid of John Jasper, and at a warm day in the afternoon, half a year after Edwin's disappearance, he tells her his love for her might be enough to get even his beloved nephew out of the way.
5. Princess Puffer tries to follow Jasper, she suspects him of something because of what he said during his opium intoxication. Jasper says to Puffer at the end of the book: "Suppose you had something in your mind; something you were going to do... Should you do it in your fancy, when you were lying here doing this?... I did it over and over again. I have done it hundreds of thousands of times in this room." Is Mr Jasper here referring to the murder of Edwin? And maybe he told by accident what he was talking about in his sleep?^{[original research?]}
6. The very first hint (Mr. Jasper being concerned about what he may say while in an opium stupor) occurs in the first pages when Mr. Jasper listens to other opium users and says "unintelligible!". Puffer says after his last opium trip of the book to him, when he sleeps: "'Unintelligible' I heard you say, of two more than me. But don't ye be too sure always; don't ye be too sure, beauty!"
7. And then a strange last fact. On the day of the disappearance of Edwin, Jasper was in a great state of mind. He was outstanding in the choir, with great self command, and his temperament was remarkably positive all day. Is this because he knew the day he had been waiting for had finally come?^{[original research?]}

Dick Datchery

Datchery appears some time after Edwin's disappearance and keeps a close eye on Jasper. There are hints that he is in disguise and this theme has been taken up in adaptations of the story which try to solve the mystery: in the 1935 movie production of the story, starring Claude Rains as Jasper, Datchery is Neville Landless in disguise. A BBC radio drama of 1990, starring Ian Holm as Jasper, had Datchery as an actor who investigates mysteries between performances.^[8]

There are plenty of proposals on the identity of Datchery:

Some readers believe Dick Datchery is Helena Landless. A hint for this is that at the beginning of the book Neville Landless tells Mr Crisparkle Helena used to dress up like a boy. Dick Datchery appears in Cloisterham almost at the same time Helena leaves. As Datchery lives very close to Jasper, it might be a move of Helena to find out more about the suspect Jasper, who accuses her own brother of the disappearance.

On the other hand, Helena goes to Neville and meets Rosa in London frequently before Rosa moves to the apartment of Mrs. Billickin. Although Dickens does not give many suggestions about the nature of the presence of Datchery during his stay in Cloisterham, it seems he is ever present and not "disappearing" for more than one day. We are told of Datchery's first meal in Cloisterham, which consists of a fried sole, a veal cutlet, and a pint of sherry, which some people feel would show a side of Helena's character hitherto unsuspected.

Others suggest that Datchery is Mr Grewgious, who, like Helena, would be suspicious of Mr. Jasper.

Another contender for Mr. Datchery is Mr. Bazzard, who is absent from London during Datchery's stay in Cloisterham.

Other strong candidates are Neville Landless and Edwin Drood himself.

A strong argument can be made for Tartar.^{[citation needed]} He & Bazzard are the only two characters unfamiliar with Cloisterham, and both are absent from London while Datchery is in Cloisterham. As Rosa's future husband^{[clarification needed]} it would be incredibly unusual for Dickens to not assign a major role for him. Even his name suggests that he is Datchery, 'tar' being slang for sailor.^{[clarification needed]} The doubling suggests that he is two men in one. Datchery is described at one point as walking with his hands clasped behind him--"as the wont of such buffers is", a walking stance frequently associated with naval officers pacing a quarter-deck. Frequently there are similar expressions used to describe both characters. Tartar is described as "being an idle man", an echo of Datchery's "idle buffer living on his means." The characters also share a similar manner of speech & both are described as having a whimsical humour.^{[original research?]}

Continuations

Supplying a conclusion to The Mystery of Edwin Drood has occupied writers from the time of Dickens's death to the present day.

The first three attempts to complete the story were undertaken by Americans. The first, by Robert Henry Newell, published under the pen name Orpheus C. Kerr in 1870,^[9] was as much a parody as a continuation, transplanting the story to the United States. It is a "burlesque" farce rather than a serious attempt to continue in the spirit of the original story. The second ending was written by Henry Morford, a New York journalist. He travelled to Rochester with his wife and published the ending serially during his stay in England from 1871–1872. In this ending, Edwin Drood survives Jasper's murder attempt. Datchery is Bazzard in disguise, but Helena disguises herself as well to overhear Jasper's mumbling under the influence of opium.^[10]

The third attempt was perhaps the most unusual. In 1873, a young Vermont printer, Thomas James, published a version which he claimed had been literally 'ghost-written' by him channelling Dickens' spirit. A sensation was created, with several critics, including Arthur Conan Doyle, a spiritualist himself, praising this version, calling it similar in style to Dickens' work and for several decades the 'James version' of Edwin Drood was common in America. Other Drood scholars disagree. John C. Walters "dismiss[ed it] with contempt", stating that the work "is self-condemned by its futility, illiteracy, and hideous American mannerisms; the mystery itself becomes a nightmare, and the solution only deepens the obscurity." ^[11]

Another notable attempt was John Jasper's Secret: Sequel to Charles Dicken's Mystery of Edwin Drood, by Charles Dickens Jr. and Wilkie Collins.

Two of the most recent of the posthumous collaborations are The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Leon Garfield (1980) and The Decoding of Edwin Drood (1980) by Charles Forsyte. There was also a humorous continuation by the Italian duo Fruttero & Lucentini entitled The D Case.

The Trial of John Jasper

In January 1914, John Jasper (played by Frederick T. Harry) stood trial for the murder of Edwin Drood in London. The "trial" was organised by the Dickens Fellowship. G. K. Chesterton, best known for the Father Brown mystery stories, was the judge while George Bernard Shaw was the foreman of the jury, made up of other authors. J. Cuming Walters, author of The Complete Edwin Drood, led the prosecution, while Cecil Chesterton acted for the defence.

Proceedings were very light-hearted with Shaw in particular making wisecracks at the expense of others present. For instance, Shaw claimed that if the prosecution thought that producing evidence would influence the jury then "he little knows his functions".^[12]

The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter, Shaw stating that it was a compromise on the grounds that there was not enough evidence to convict Jasper but that they did not want to run the risk of being murdered in their beds. Both sides protested and demanded that the jury be discharged. Shaw claimed that the jury would be only too pleased to be discharged. Chesterton ruled that the mystery of Edwin Drood was insoluble and fined everyone, except himself, for contempt of court.^[13]

Original publication

The Mystery of Edwin Drood was scheduled to be published in twelve instalments (shorter than Dickens's usual twenty) from April 1870 to March 1871, each costing one shilling and illustrated by Luke Fildes. Only six of the instalments were completed before Dickens's death in 1870. It was therefore approximately half finished.

• I – April 1870 (chapters 1–4)
• II – May 1870 (chapters 5–9)
• III – June 1870 (chapters 10–12)
• IV – July 1870 (chapters 13–16)
• V – August 1870 (chapters 17–20)
• VI – September 1870 (chapters 21–23)

Planned instalments never published:

• VII – October 1870
• VIII – November 1870
• IX – December 1870
• X – January 1871
• XI – February 1871
• XII – March 1871

Adaptations

Films

To date, there have been four film adaptations of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The first two were silent pictures released in 1909 and 1914. They are unavailable to the general public and have been little-seen since they were released. These were followed by:

• The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935) released by Universal Pictures and directed by Stuart Walker, starring Claude Rains, Douglass Montgomery, Heather Angel, Valerie Hobson, and David Manners.
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1993) starring Robert Powell as "John Jasper".

Television

A two-part drama, adapted with an original ending by Gwyneth Hughes and directed by Diarmuid Lawrence, will air on BBC Two on 1 January and 2 January 2012^[14] and on PBS on 15 April 2012.^[15] Matthew Rhys stars as John Jasper, Tamzin Merchant plays Rosa Bud, and Freddie Fox plays Edwin Drood. Other cast members include Alun Armstrong as Hiram Grewgious; David Dawson as Bazzard; Rory Kinnear as Reverend Septimus Crisparkle; Julia McKenzie as the Reverend's mother, Mrs Crisparkle; Sacha Dhawan as Neville Landless; Amber Rose Revah as Helena Landless; Ron Cook as Durdles; and Ian McNeice as Mayor Sapsea.^[16]

Radio

On 5 and 12 January 1953, the Suspense radio program aired a two-part adaptation of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. It depicts John Jasper (played by Herbert Marshall) as the killer, tricked into giving himself away.

Theatre

Main article: Drood

Almost immediately following Charles Dickens's death, playwrights and theatre companies have mounted versions of The Mystery of Edwin Drood with varying degrees of popularity, success, and faithfulness to the original work.

The first modern major theatrical adaptation was a musical comedy with book, music, and lyrics by Rupert Holmes. The production, originally known by the full name of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, but re-titled halfway through its original run to simply Drood,^[17] was first produced in 1985 by the New York Shakespeare Festival, and then transferred to Broadway, where it ran for 608 performances (and 24 previews). It won five 1986 Tonys, including Best Musical, as well as Drama Desk and Edgar awards. The musical has since played successfully in numerous regional and amateur productions.

Because Dickens's book was left unfinished, the musical hinges upon a novel idea: the audience decides by vote which of the characters is the murderer. The musical's suspect pool includes John Jasper, Neville Landless, Rosa Bud, Helena Landless, Rev. Crisparkle, Princess Puffer, and Mr. Bazzard. Adding further interactivity, the audience also chooses one male and one female character to develop a romance together: Holmes wrote brief alternate endings for every possible voting outcome, even the most unlikely.

Pop culture references

• Edwin Drood is the name of a fictional band from the TV series Jonathan Creek.
• Edwin Drood is the name of the protagonist in the novel The Man With The Golden Torc by Simon R Green
• The 1999 novel Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee references Edwin Drood as the novel that Lucy reads before the crime on her farm.
• A 2005 episode of the television series Doctor Who, "The Unquiet Dead", shows a fictional Charles Dickens, set the Christmas before his death, overcoming a skepticism of the supernatural and being inspired to write about the gaseous creatures that he fought with the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler, suggesting that his last novel will be completed as The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals, with Edwin's killer being "not of this earth" but blue creatures that were inspired by the Gelth.
• The 2009 novel Drood by Dan Simmons is a fictionalized account of the last five years of Dickens's life and the writing of and inspirations for the novel.
• The 2009 novel The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl is a fictionalized account of events after Dickens' death related to his unfinished novel.

References

1. ^ Ray Dubberke, Dickens, Drood, and the Detectives, New York, Vantage Press, 1992 ISBN 0533096391.
2. ^ Kate Dickens Perugini, "Edwin Drood and the Last Days of Charles Dickens", Pall Mall Magazine, Vol. 37 (1906).
3. ^ Dickens, Charles and Walters, John Cuming, The Complete Mystery of Edwin Drood. Dana Estes & Company, 1913, pp. xxv–xxxv.
4. ^ A Curious Burial 11 January 1890 East London Observer – an account of the burial of Ah Sing, said to be the inspiration for the character of the opium seller. Accessed 22 July 2008
5. ^ John Forster, The Life of Charles Dickens, 1876, vol. 1, pp. 451–452
6. ^ ^{a b c} The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Chiltern Library edition, London, 1950; Introduction.
7. ^ The Murder Book by Tage LaCour and Harald Mogensen, 1973
8. ^ Gareth Thomas (Radio Plays – Chronological) – from Horizon magazine
9. ^ Walter Hamilton, ed. Parodies of the works of English & American authors. Reeves & Turner, 1889, Volume 6, p. 226.
10. ^ Dickens, Charles and Walters, John Cuming, The Complete Mystery of Edwin Drood. Dana Estes & Company, 1913, pp. 213–217.
11. ^ Dickens, Charles and Walters, John Cuming, The Complete Mystery of Edwin Drood. Dana Estes & Company, 1913, pp. 217–218.
12. ^ Chesterton Judge at Dickens Trial New York Times report on the case, 7 January 1914
13. ^ [1] New York Times report on the case, 8 January 1914
14. ^ "Dickens' Final Novel Filmed at Cathedral", Medway Extra, p. 3, 16 September 2011.
15. ^ "PBS Masterpiece Classic schedule". http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/classic/index.html. Retrieved 2011-11-13. 
16. ^ "Cast announced for The Mystery Of Edwin Drood on BBC Two", BBC Press Office, 2 September 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
17. ^ "IBDB.com". http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4386. Retrieved 2007-09-02. 

External links

• The Mystery of Edwin Drood at Internet Archive.
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood – Searchable HTML version.
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood – Free audio book from Librivox.
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood – An analysis explaining Edwin Drood's themes and allusions, and offering a solution to its mysteries.
• About Edwin Drood, via Internet Archive. A collection of 19th and early 20th century books exploring the mysteries and offering solutions.