The Strange Case of Edward Gorey

Like an obscure gentleman sleuth in the British mystery novels that he loved, the celebrated American artist Edward Gorey was a curious, reclusive individual with an inordinate interest in the drama of other people’s lives, and a penchant for the grim reality of true crime. Surrounded by cats, books, skulls, iron jewelry, and the assorted trappings of an habitual collector and armchair traveler, Edward Gorey devised an oblique, Edwardian world of his own design, expressing, in nearly 100 books over a 47-year career, his unique vision with shadowy, black-and-white pen-and-ink drawings and spare, witty, satirical plots.