The Pale Blue Eye

Now a Netflix film starring Christian Bale, Harry Melling, and Gillian Anderson 'Shockingly clever and devoutly unsentimental . . . reads like a lost classic. Bayard reinvigorates historical fiction.' -- New York Times Book Review An ingenious tale of murder and revenge at West Point, featuring a retired detective and a young cadet named Edgar Allan Poe--from the author of Courting Mr. Lincoln. At West Point Academy in 1830, the calm of an October evening is shattered by the discovery of a young cadet's body swinging from a rope. The next morning, an even greater horror comes to light. Someone has removed the dead man's heart. Augustus Landor--who acquired some renown in his years as a New York City police detective--is called in to discreetly investigate. It's a baffling case Landor must pursue in secret, for the scandal could do irreparable damage to the fledgling institution. But he finds help from an unexpected ally--a moody, young cadet with a penchant for drink, two volumes of