Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849), American poet, a master of the horror tale, credited with practically inventing the detective story. Poe's first collection, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840) contained one of his most famous works, "The Fall of the House of Usher." During the early 1840s Poe's best-selling work was The Conchologist's First Book (1839). The dark poem of lost love, "The Raven," brought Poe national fame, when it appeared in 1845. "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841) and "The Purloined Letter" are among Poe's most famous detective stories.