The first installment of Our Mutual Friend is published in May of 1864. In June of 1865 Charles Dickens is involved in the Staplehurst railway accident . The final chapters of Our Mutual Friend are published in November of 1865. In Our Mutual Friend one of the characters is thought to be dead, but really isn't. In The Mystery of Edwin Drood , Dickens's last novel, Edwin Drood disappears.
People believe so but no body is ever found.
Perhaps, just like the character in Our Mutual Friend , Edwin Drood wasn't really dead. We'll never know. Dickens died before The Mystery of Edwin Drood was completed. Dust The dust, or garbage, business plays a large part in Our Mutual Friend . The elder John Harmon made his fortune as a dust contractor.