Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," originally published in Graham’s Magazine in April 1841, established the foundational architecture of the modern detective story.1 Poe envisioned this narrative form as a "tale of ratiocination," a literary genre dedicated to demonstrating the supremacy of analytical deduction over superficial calculation.Translating this highly discursive text into an engaging, read-aloud spoken-word format requires a structural reorganization that balances dense philosophical exposition with immediate gothic suspense.1

The original text opens with an extended essay contrasting the mechanical calculation of chess with the truly analytical observations required in whist.