Philadelphia, 1842 · A mystery by mail
The Raven Letters
He wrote it.
Then it happened.
Someone is killing the people around Edgar Allan Poe. Every death echoes a story he has not finished writing.
A Gothic mystery delivered to your mailbox in 24 installments of physical letters and story artifacts. Follow the detective. Ask the question Poe cannot answer:
Who is reading his unfinished pages?
Open the first letter Preorder the seriesPreorder · First letters mail the week of November 2, 2026.
Real mail. $149 paid in full when you preorder. Postage included.
How it works
The mystery comes to you.
One payment. The whole series.
24 installments of physical letters and story artifacts. Pay once, with postage included and no shipping charges.
Watch the mailbox.
This is a preorder. First letters mail the week of November 2, 2026. After your first mailing, letters arrive approximately twice a month.
Let the story unfold.
Read each installment, examine the artifacts, and return to earlier clues as your suspicions change.
The case begins
A cellar.
Two glasses.
A wall that wasn't there.
A Philadelphia wine merchant is found behind fresh brick in his own cellar. Detective Ignatius Barrow writes to the author of “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” hoping for an insight ordinary police work cannot give him.
Poe recognizes the scene. The wine. The recess. The terrible precision of it.
Not because he has been there.
Because he wrote it.
The tale is unfinished. Unpublished. And now someone has made it real.
Read it for yourself
The first letter
doesn't ask you
to believe.
It gives you a reason.
Barrow's report. Poe's reply. Two voices confronting the same impossible fact.
Read the opening correspondence. Decide whether you can leave the question unanswered.
An excerpt from Letter 1.
Philadelphia · January 30, 1842
Dear Mr. Poe,
“Behind this wall, Mr. Poe, we found Cornelius Hargrove.”
Poe's reply, that same evening
“I know the scene you have described. I know it not because I have visited Mr. Hargrove's cellar, which I have never entered, nor because I have read of it in the Ledger, which I have not yet seen. I know it because I wrote it.”
From Letter 1 · The Raven Letters
Preorder the complete 24-part series
Atmospheric story artwork, not photographs of the mailings.
Put down the screen. Follow the ink.
Not just a story to read.
A world to return to.
Open the correspondence. Turn over a detail. Discover that a sentence means more than it first seemed.
Hear more than one version.
Poe. The detective. The people caught between them. Read what they say and notice what they leave out.
Look beyond the letter.
Lay the story artifacts beside the letters. Look for the detail that changes your theory.
Keep the pages. Reconsider the past.
Return to earlier correspondence as the mystery unfolds. What looked innocent may read differently now.
Before “The Raven”
You know the name.
Meet the man.
Poe is brilliant, proud, short of money and frightened for his wife. A detective wants answers he cannot give. The literary world measures his worth in reviews, rivalries and debts.
Then there is Frances Osgood: another writer, another voice, and the dangerous comfort of being understood.
The murders draw you in. The people give you a reason to stay.
Original historical fiction, set in Philadelphia and New York from 1842 to 1845. Real literary figures and period settings meet an invented murder mystery. These are not recovered letters written by Poe.
For the reader who wants to disappear into a story
A little less scrolling.
A little more obsession.
If you love Gothic fiction, historical mysteries, complicated people and a clue that makes you turn back a page, this is your kind of correspondence.
Read it alone in a quiet hour, or lay out the evidence with someone who loves a good theory.
For someone who lives between the pages
Give them a story
they can’t stop thinking about.
For the person who always has a book nearby, a gift doesn’t have to end when the wrapping comes off. Raven offers the pleasure of opening a letter, entering another century, and having a new theory to share.
Choose it for a lover of Gothic fiction, literary mysteries or Poe. Or make the correspondence a story you explore together, one installment at a time.
Explore Raven as a giftThe creator
A storyteller’s imagination.
A trial lawyer’s eye for detail.
Christopher Forrest
Christopher Forrest is an author and former trial attorney, and the creator behind Dead Letter Studio. He writes and designs its mystery experiences, bringing his background in law and storytelling to the people, documents and secrets that draw you into a case.
Raven is original historical fiction, not recovered correspondence. Read the Letter 1 excerpts above to get a feel for the writing.
Before you enter
A few things
worth knowing.
What exactly is The Raven Letters?
A 24-part Gothic mystery delivered by mail through physical letters and accompanying story artifacts. The narrative unfolds through correspondence rather than the chapters of a conventional bound novel.
When will the letters arrive?
This is a preorder. First letters mail the week of November 2, 2026. After your first mailing, letters arrive approximately twice a month.
Is this a subscription? Is postage extra?
No recurring payments. The full $149 is paid when you preorder. One payment covers the 24-part series, with postage included and no shipping charges.
What is the first-mailing guarantee?
Request a refund within 30 days of receiving your first mailing. We’ll refund your purchase and cancel the remaining mailings.
Can I give Raven as a gift?
Raven is a thoughtful choice for a reader who loves Gothic fiction, historical mysteries or Edgar Allan Poe: a story to discover through physical mail, rather than another book for the shelf.
Do I need to have read Edgar Allan Poe?
No. The story introduces Poe's world through the people in it, including a detective asking the questions a new reader might ask. If you know the tales, you will recognize another layer of the mystery.
Is this a true story?
It is original historical fiction. Edgar Allan Poe, Virginia Poe and Frances Osgood were real people. The central murders, Detective Barrow and the correspondence in this series are fictional. Familiar names are the doorway, not a claim that these crimes really happened.
Is it a puzzle game or a reading experience?
The heart of Raven is an unfolding story: a mystery to follow through letters and artifacts, with details to examine and connections to make. Think immersive reading and investigation, rather than a timed escape-room challenge.
What kind of story should I expect?
A slow-burn blend of murder mystery, literary rivalry, illness, grief and impossible romance. It is Gothic fiction with mature themes, written for readers who enjoy emotional stakes as much as a disturbing crime.
The pages never left his desk.
So how did the world read them?
Preorder your next obsession
The Raven Letters
Follow the ink. Question every voice.
Find the story beneath the story.
$149.00 USD
One-time payment · 24 installments · Postage included
The full $149 is paid when you preorder. No recurring payments or shipping charges.
First letters mail the week of November 2, 2026.
After your first mailing, letters arrive approximately twice a month.
Your first-mailing guarantee
Request a refund within 30 days of receiving your first mailing. We’ll refund your purchase and cancel the remaining mailings.