查爾斯·狄更斯（Charles Dickens）（1812-1870），19世紀英國現實主義文學巨匠，繼莎士比亞之後對世界文學産生巨大影響的小說傢，為英國批判現實主義文學的開拓發展做齣卓越的貢獻，其作品至今依然盛行。主要代錶作有《雙城記》、《大衛·科波菲爾》、《霧都孤兒》、《艱難時世》、《遠大前程》、《匹剋威剋外傳》等。

《德魯德疑案》是狄更斯一生中的最後一部著作，在去世前不久開始動筆並分捲發錶，一問世便獲得巨大成功。狄更斯不止一次提到寫作過程中的精心構思，他曾嚮上帝懇求讓他在有生之年完成這部小說，直到去世前仍不知疲倦地醉心寫作，但還是在小說未完稿前突然辭世。這部未竟遺作也引發後人無數的揣測猜想。

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is a novel that is itself the subject of one of literature’s most enduring mysteries. The story recounts the troubled romance of Rosa Bud and the book’s eponymous character, who later vanishes. Was Drood murdered, and if so by whom? All clues point to John Jasper, Drood’s lugubrious uncle, who coveted Rosa. Or did Drood orchestrate his own disappearance? As Charles Dickens died before finishing the book, the ending is intriguingly ambiguous.

In his Introduction, Matthew Pearl illuminates the 150-year-long quest to unravel The Mystery of Edwin Drood and lends new insight into the novel, the literary milieu of 1870s England, and the private life of Charles Dickens. This Modern Library edition includes new endnotes and a full transcript of “The Trial of John Jasper for the Murder of Edwin Drood,” the 1914 mock court case presided over and argued by the likes of G. K. Chesterton and George Bernard Shaw. Now diehard fans, new readers, and armchair detectives have another opportunity to solve the mystery Dickens took to his grave.