History Literature / TheMysteryOfEdwinDrood

* ThirdPersonPerson: Durdles.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Neville and Helena Landless come from Ceylon, and are described as having a "dark complexion", but the details of their ethnicity are not clear. In any case, they are foreign enough to prejudice Edwin, Jasper, Mrs. Crisparkle and almost the entire town against them.

''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'' is Creator/CharlesDickens's last novel. As was usual for Dickens, the novel was written and published in serial instalments; Dickens died after completing only six of the projected twelve instalments, leaving the novel incomplete and the mystery unresolved.

The solution of the mystery is actually known: Drood's uncle, John Jasper, is the murderer. Dickens had told several people whodunnit, and his friend John Forster later published a synopsis of the novel's planned conclusion bringing together various details Dickens had mentioned to him, including Edwin's fate, whodunnit, and the intended fates of other significant characters. This hasn't stopped multiple people writing their own endings, not all of them agreeing with Forster's account.

* AllThereInTheManual: As TheOtherWiki points out, Dickens named Jasper as the murderer to at least three people (his son, his illustrator, and John Forster). He also mentioned Helena's marriage to Mr. Crisparkle and Rosa's to Mr. Tartar.

!!References in other fiction:

* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Unquiet Dead", in which Charles Dickens helps the Doctor thwart an alien invasion, ends with Dickens contemplating changing the ending so that Drood's disappearance was caused by aliens; Rose is worried that they've changed history, but the Doctor isn't worried because he knows Dickens won't live to write the ending anyway.
* Creator/SimonRGreen's ''Literature/SecretHistories'' series features a character named Edwin Drood.
* ''Literature/{{Drood}}'', a HistoricalFantasy by Creator/DanSimmons set at the end of Dickens' life, inevitably features the writing of the novel.
* In ''The Long Divorce'' by EdmundCrispin, the protagonist adopts the surname "Datchery" when asked to make a covert investigation.
* A story in the ''Comicbook/JudgeDredd Yearbook'' 1992 called "The Mystery of Judge (Edwin) Drood" by [[Creator/DanAbnett Dan "Boz" Abnett]]. "Judge Drood" is an archivist accosted by a mugger, who becomes convinced this is Magwitch from ''Literature/GreatExpectations'' and starts randomly spouting Dickens as he takes revenge. They end up killing each other, and Dredd appears at the end to declare the case unsolved because "That's all he wrote".

* Creator/SimonRGreen's ''SecretHistories'' series features a character named Edwin Drood.

* AuthorExistenceFailure

* AllThereInTheManual: As TheOtherWiki points out, Dickens named Jasper as the murderer to at least three people (his son, his illustrator, and John Forster). He also mentioned Helena's marriage to Mr. Crsiparkle and Rosa's to Mr. Tartar.

* The 'James version', published in 1873. Written by an American printer, Thomas James, who claimed he had channelled Dickens' ghost.

''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'' is Creator/CharlesDickens' last novel. As was usual for Dickens, the novel was written and published in serial instalments; Dickens died after completing only six of the projected twelve instalments, leaving the novel incomplete and the mystery unresolved.

* SimonRGreen's ''SecretHistories'' series features a character named Edwin Drood.

* ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'', a 1935 film starring [[Film/{{Dracula}} David Manners]] as Edwin Drood and Creator/ClaudeRains as John Jasper.

* ''Literature/{{Drood}}'', a HistoricalFantasy by DanSimmons set at the end of Dickens' life, inevitably features the writing of the novel.

* ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'', a 1935 film starring [[Film/{{Dracula}} David Manners]] as Edwin Drood and ClaudeRains as John Jasper.

* ParentalAbuse: Helena and Neville Landless were raised first by a violently abusive stepfather, then by the obnoxious, neglectful Mr. Honeythunder.

-> '''Rosa:''' He has made a slave of me with his looks. He has forced me to understand him without his saying a word, and he has forced me to keep silence without his uttering a threat.

* {{Ambiguous Disorder}}: Mr. Grewgious is described as a "particularly Angular man", with an expressionless face and voice, an awkward way of moving, and an inability to show even deeply felt emotions.
* {{Ambiguously Brown}}: Neville and Helena Landless come from Ceylon, and are described as having a "dark complexion", but the details of their ethnicity are not clear. In any case, they are foreign enough to prejudice Edwin, Jasper, Mrs. Crisparkle and almost the entire town against them.

* {{Anguished Declaration of Love}}: Jasper bursts out with one to Rosa shortly after Edwin's death. She recoils in disgust, seeing his actions as a betrayal to Edwin, but he couldn't care less.

* {{Better As Friends}}: Rosa and Edwin amicably agree to call off their engagement.
* {{Berserk Button}}: Neville is more or less in control of himself until Edwin insults his race.

* {{Good Shepherd}}: The Rev. Septimus Crisparkle, a friend and mentor to both Landless twins and an active peacemaker between rivals Neville and Edwin.
* {{Heartwarming Orphan}}: Rosa and, to a lesser extent, Edwin.
* {{Hot Blooded}}: Neville is very easily provoked, a trait which Jasper cleverly exploits in order to frame him as Edwin's murderer and deflect suspicion from himself.
* {{Hot For Student}}: Jasper is Rosa's music teacher, and obsessed with her. A more benign example is Mr. Crisparkle, who gradually bonds with Helena as he is indirectly teaching her through her brother.
* {{I Kiss Your Hand}}: Helena to Mr. Crisparkle, in gratitude for his advice to her brother.

* {{Light Feminine Dark Feminine}}: Rosa and Helena.
* {{Meaningful Name}}: As in every Dickens novel. We have Rosa Bud, the Landless twins who are without a home, a sailor named Mr. Tartar, Mr. Crisparkle (the name suggests the words "crystal" and "sparkle", to suggest both his purity and his habit of swimming in cold water), "Stony" Durdles the gravestone carver, and the aggressive philanthropist Mr. Honeythunder.
** Septimus Crisparkle's given name is due to his mother having had six stillborn sons before him, which explains why she is so protective.
* {{Mamas Boy}}: Mr. Crisparkle is this to his mother, although unlike most examples of this trope, it's portrayed as very endearing.

* {{Parental Abuse}}: Helena and Neville Landless were raised first by a violently abusive stepfather, then by the obnoxious, neglectful Mr. Honeythunder.
* {{Parental Substitute}}: Mr. Grewgious, though eccentric, is a genuinely good and loving guardian to Rosa. Less so Mr. Honeythunder to the Landlesses. Then there are Jasper and Edwin, whose relationship is complicated to say the least.

* {{Stalker With A Crush}}: Jasper to Rosa.

* {{The Stoic}}: Helena, according to Neville, would have let their stepfather "tear her to pieces" before letting him see her shed a tear.
* {{Third Person Person}}: Durdles.
* {{Twin Telepathy}}: Helena and Neville can understand each other without a word or even a look.

* AllThereInTheManual: As TheOtherWiki points out, Dickens named Jasper as the murderer to at least three people (his son, his illustrator, and John Forster).

* NamesToTrustImmediately: Rosa Bud

* In ''The Long Divorce'' by EdmundCrispin, the protagonist adopts the surname "Datchery" when asked to make a covert investigation.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Reverend Crisparkle delivers one to Mr Honeythunder that's about a page and a half long.

* ''The Trial of John Jasper'', a one-off event staged by the Dickens Fellowship in 1914, and featuring several literary luminaries, including Creator/GKChesterton as the judge and GeorgeBernardShaw as the foreman of the jury. Played very much for laughs.

* ''The Trial of John Jasper'', a one-off event staged by the Dickens Fellowship in 1914, and featuring several literary luminaries, including GKChesterton as the judge and GeorgeBernardShaw as the foreman of the jury. Played very much for laughs.

''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'' is CharlesDickens' last novel. As was usual for Dickens, the novel was written and published in serial instalments; Dickens died after completing only six of the projected twelve instalments, leaving the novel incomplete and the mystery unresolved.

* AllThereInTheManual: As TheOtherWiki points out, Dickens named Jasper as the murderer to at least three people (his son, his illustrator, and John Forster).

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Reverend Crisparkle delivers one to Mr Honeythunder that's about a page and a half long.

* In ''The Long Divorce'' by EdmundCrispin, the protagonist adopts the surname "Datchery" when asked to make a covert investigation.

The solution of the mystery is actually known: Drood's uncle, John Jasper, is the murderer. Dickens had told several people whodunnit, and his friend John Forster later published a synopsis of the novel's planned conclusion bringing together various details Dickens had mentioned to him, including Edwin's fate, whodunnit, and the intended fates of other significant characters (though leaving some subsidiary mysteries, such as the motives of the mysterious Dick Datchery, unexplained). This hasn't stopped multiple people writing their own endings, not all of them agreeing with Forster's account.

The solution of the mystery is actually known; Dickens had told several people whodunnit, and his friend John Forster later published a synopsis of the novel's planned conclusion bringing together various details Dickens had mentioned to him, including Edwin's fate, whodunnit, and the intended fates of other significant characters (though leaving some subsidiary mysteries, such as the motives of the mysterious Dick Datchery, unexplained). This hasn't stopped multiple people writing their own endings, not all of them agreeing with Forster's account.

* NeverFoundTheBody: Edwin Drood's body remains unfound in the completed portion of the story; at least one continuation has him reappearing alive and well at a dramatically appropriate moment. According to Forster, Dickens' intention was [[spoiler:that they would have FinallyFoundTheBody, its location being a pointer to the identity of his murderer]].