C. Auguste Dupin is a young gentleman living in an old and secluded estate outside of Paris. Since Dupin loves the darkness, the scion of a former glorious noble family enjoys spending his days with reading or meditation, and keeping the shutters of his house closed. Dupin conducts his criminal investigations only as a pastime, which means that he does not enjoy financial benefits through the solution of a case.

His investigations serve only the purpose to prove the innocence of a suspect and convict the true perpetrator. C. Auguste Dupin bases his research exclusively on his intellect as well as the close monitoring of gestures and facial expressions of his counterparts, which often betray the real thoughts and feelings of his informants.

The amateur detective C. Auguste Dupin solves his cases at a time when the term “detective” did not yet exist. Thus, Dupin is regarded as the first detective in literary history. The stories are told by an unspecified friend of Dupin’s, who acts as narrator and as an intermediary between the reader and the detective.

Thus, Dupin’s friend holds a similar position to Dr. Watson, telling the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, private investigator in London. Edgar Alan Poe, the author of the stories about amateur detective Dupin, influenced other writers, who also built their stories employing a similar type of narrator portrayal.

These include, for example, the stories of Agatha Christie, where Captain Hastings narrates the adventures of his friend, Hercule Poirot. Also Archie Goodwin, who has been working for the private detective Nero Wolfe, was intended as the narrators in the writings of author Rex Stout.

The approach of C. Auguste Dupin is also similar to that of Sherlock Holmes, as both resolve their cases with the help of their razor-sharp mind. Different, however, is the way in which both arrive at their conclusions. First, C. Auguste Dupin dismantles the crime in its myriad parts.

He subsequently submits each item to a proper analysis and then combines them back together into a whole. The amateur detective only then draws his conclusions. In contrast, Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant observer and relies on the information gathered in his observations to draw his conclusions.

By the way, there is a connection between the cases of C. Auguste Dupin, detective in the 19^th century, and the cases of Dr. Cal Lightman from the 21^st century. Much like Dupin, Dr. Lightman is able to focus on facial expressions and gestures to draw conclusions about the thoughts and feelings of his informants.

C. Auguste Dupin’s Cases

The Murders in the Rue Morgue

The Mystery of Marie Roget

The Purloined Letter