The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl

Pearl has made a career out of writing novels about literary mysteries. He has written a novel about a translation of Dante, about Edgar Allen Poe's death, and this novel, which deals with the end of the life of Charles Dickens and the end of his unfinished novel, the Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Pearl chooses as a protagonist the publisher of Dickens novels in Boston. The seamier side of the publishing industry is revealed, at a time when there was no international copyright law and the theft of manuscripts was common. The plot involves the publisher traveling to England to search for the end of the unfinished novel. It is, of course, a little contrived, but entertaining. Flashbacks include Dickens last reading tour of America, and a glimpse of the English opium trade in India. Opium plays a large part in Dickens novel, so Pearl uses it to good advantage in his novel.

A "solution" to Dickens unfinished novel is proposed, one involving real characters that Dickens supposedly based his novel on. Overall it's a good read, probably the best of the Pearl literary mysteries.

Link to Amazon: The Last Dickens: A Novel