Eddie

**Eddie**, introduced as Eddie Dantes, appears in Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party. Annabel Lee's seemingly perfect plus one, Eddie is the first of the guests to be declared murdered.

## Personality

Eddie is at first seen to be a kind, sociable, intelligent, multi-talented man with little to almost no flaws. However as the night proceeds, the guests remark on their past experiences with Eddie that paint him in a different light; such as stubbornly insisting on credit for Shelley's novel or laughing at Wells' proposal of time travel.

When he turns out to be the one who masterminded all of the murders, his true colours show. The real Eddie is manipulative, aggressive, petty, and selfish. He holds his reputation above all else, and will do anything to get his way.

## *Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party*

Eddie appears on the arm of Annabel Lee in Chapter One: The Bells, apologising for their tardiness. He explains that it is his fault that they were late, as he was preoccupied with his volunteer work at an old folks home and had to fill in for a barbershop quartet that they ran into. As he is seated (on the opposite side of the table from Annabel), Eddie seems to be recognised by certain members of the dinner party.

During the explanation of the game rules, Eddie is the first to taste the soup. The lights mysteriously flicker out; when they turn back on, he is found dead. When he is discovered to have no pulse nor be breathing, his body is taken down to the cellar.

Throughout the rest of the party, it is revealed that several guests were familiar with Eddie prior to the night. Edgar Allan Poe had been jealous of Eddie's relationship with Annabel. Fyodor Dostoevsky had been taken in and given shelter by Eddie after escaping Siberian prison camp. Mary Shelly had taken inspiration from Eddie for her novel *Frankenstein*, to which she had refused to give the credit he insisted on. Charlotte Brontë's family home had been in the process of being foreclosed by Eddie. George Eliot has known Eddie through a publisher, and had been concerned that he would reveal that she was secretly a woman. Ernest Hemingway had owed Eddie for a sports bet. H.G. Wells had taken a loan from Eddie to build his model time machine. Oscar Wilde had once hooked up with a drunken Eddie at a party.

In Chapter Eleven: The Tell-Tale Heart, Eddie reveals himself to be alive, having faked his death to take part in the real murders. His true identity is revealed to be Edward De Vere the Sixth, a descendant of Edward De Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, as well as Guy De Vere's absent older brother. Eddie's motivation lies in his resentment towards Lenore —who he blames for his brother's death—, his grudge towards all writers —stemming from the hand his ancestor had but never received credit for in William Shakespeare's work—, and to be rid of all loose strings he had with the dinner guests.

Eddie had begun his relationship with Annabel knowing of her connections to Poe and Lenore, and managed to manipulate her into creating the dinner party's guestlist with authors he wanted dead. He had then recruited help from Charlotte and Anne Brontë the day he had come to deliver a notice of foreclose on the sisters' family home, where he witnessed Anne murder Jane Austen. In return for helping him with these murders, he had promised both not to foreclose and keep quiet about Austen.

When Eddie mentions that he was the one to murder Annabel, he is attacked by Poe. During the fight, he is killed by a rock to the head. It is implied that his body was hidden beneath Poe's floorboards.