The Murders in the Rue Morgue," first published in 1841, is historically significant for being one of the first detective stories, birthing a new literary genre. Set in 19th-century Paris, the story features an amateur detective, C. Auguste Dupin, who uses logic and observation to solve a baffling double murder that has stumped the police. Its publication in the context of growing urban anxieties about crime made it an immediate success and laid the groundwork for future mysteries, establishing conventions like the brilliant but eccentric detective and the less intelligent police.
