The Ladder Series of books are specially prepared edi-tions of well-known American books.
They have been made easier to read for the enjoyment of readers for whom English is a second language.
The series is built on a “ladder” of five steps—from 1,000 to 5,000 different English words. The books have been shortened, but they keep the ideas, facts, and plea-sures found in them by American readers.
This book uses words below the 4,000-word level. Some words in the book are above this step and will be found written in boldface letters. They are explained in the glossary at the back.
The publisher hopes the reader will enjoy this series while going up the ladder to more difficult reading.
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue", short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in Graham’s magazine in 1841. It is considered one of the first detective stories.
The story opens with the discovery of the violent murder of an old woman and her daughter. No grisly detail is spared in the description of the crime scene as it is discovered by neighbours responding to the women’s screams. The police are baffled by the fact that the murderer has managed to escape even though the women’s apartment appears to have been completely sealed from the inside.
The genteel but impoverished C. Auguste Dupin and his nameless friend — who narrates the story — offer their services to the police and, through a brilliant interpretation of the clues at the scene, identify the murderer — an escaped orangutan.
