That Drood Dude
@thatdrooddude.bsky.social
Founder of The Spike that Intervenes Theory of ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’ (published in the summer 2024 edition of ‘The Dickensian’). Author of ‘Solving Drood’ and ‘Hollywood Clones’.
Pinned
Whether you believe the cover was Collins, Fildes or in-betwixt, you have to agree that the Verger has moved from the top-left of the background to the top-center, next to the Cathedral door, in line with the pointer finger of the figure atop the spiral staircase.
Ever notice in Dickens’s The Mystery of Edwin Drood that all the characters have names, with the exception of the Dean? (Perhaps Dickens was saving his name for the big reveal.)
January 21, 2026 at 4:38 PM
Ever notice in Dickens’s The Mystery of Edwin Drood that all the characters have names, with the exception of the Dean? (Perhaps Dickens was saving his name for the big reveal.)
I believe Nathan Lane would make a most humourous Seth Pecksniff.
January 17, 2026 at 3:13 PM
I believe Nathan Lane would make a most humourous Seth Pecksniff.
In a letter to John Forster in August, 1869, Dickens wrote:
“I laid aside the fancy I told you of, and have a very curious and new idea for my new story. Not a communicable idea (or the interest of the book would be gone), but a very strong one, though difficult to work.”
“I laid aside the fancy I told you of, and have a very curious and new idea for my new story. Not a communicable idea (or the interest of the book would be gone), but a very strong one, though difficult to work.”
January 15, 2026 at 9:03 PM
In a letter to John Forster in August, 1869, Dickens wrote:
“I laid aside the fancy I told you of, and have a very curious and new idea for my new story. Not a communicable idea (or the interest of the book would be gone), but a very strong one, though difficult to work.”
“I laid aside the fancy I told you of, and have a very curious and new idea for my new story. Not a communicable idea (or the interest of the book would be gone), but a very strong one, though difficult to work.”
Dickens was troubled when a little old lady guessed Esther Summerson’s parentage in Bleak House. So why, when illustrator Seymour claimed the originality of ‘Pickwick’, and Cruikshank ‘Twist,’ would Dickens have told Fildes that Jasper strangles Drood with the scarf? This just doesn’t make sense.
January 6, 2026 at 1:11 AM
Dickens was troubled when a little old lady guessed Esther Summerson’s parentage in Bleak House. So why, when illustrator Seymour claimed the originality of ‘Pickwick’, and Cruikshank ‘Twist,’ would Dickens have told Fildes that Jasper strangles Drood with the scarf? This just doesn’t make sense.
Dickens seems to have borrowed a page from Poe’s ‘The Purloined Letter‘ by asking readers who the villains are in the first chapter of ‘Drood,’ then revealing them in bold print atop the second, “A Dean and a Chapter, Also.” Just like Poe’s ‘Letter,’ did Dickens hide the answer in plain sight?
January 5, 2026 at 2:21 PM
Dickens seems to have borrowed a page from Poe’s ‘The Purloined Letter‘ by asking readers who the villains are in the first chapter of ‘Drood,’ then revealing them in bold print atop the second, “A Dean and a Chapter, Also.” Just like Poe’s ‘Letter,’ did Dickens hide the answer in plain sight?
Gemini; ChatGPT; Copilot; and Brave all believe Jasper is the one who intones “WHEN THE WICKED MAN” at the end of the first chapter in ‘Drood’. But they have it all wrong. When you look closely, it’s the Dean’s voice that is “intoned”; “feeble”; “cracked”; “monotonous-mutter”; and “dying”.
December 29, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Gemini; ChatGPT; Copilot; and Brave all believe Jasper is the one who intones “WHEN THE WICKED MAN” at the end of the first chapter in ‘Drood’. But they have it all wrong. When you look closely, it’s the Dean’s voice that is “intoned”; “feeble”; “cracked”; “monotonous-mutter”; and “dying”.
Jasper being the villain only proves that Wilkie Collins and George Bernard Shaw were correct, that The Mystery of Edwin Drood WAS the melancholy work of a worn-out brain by a man three-quarters dead. We have to give Dickens more credit and respect than this (after all, he IS the Inimitable).
December 9, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Jasper being the villain only proves that Wilkie Collins and George Bernard Shaw were correct, that The Mystery of Edwin Drood WAS the melancholy work of a worn-out brain by a man three-quarters dead. We have to give Dickens more credit and respect than this (after all, he IS the Inimitable).
Fans of Dickens should relish in the notion that he would never leave us with a murderous protagonist who commits nepocide in his unfinished swan song. What he left us with is a “kinsman” who was truly “devoted” to his nephew all the while.
December 9, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Fans of Dickens should relish in the notion that he would never leave us with a murderous protagonist who commits nepocide in his unfinished swan song. What he left us with is a “kinsman” who was truly “devoted” to his nephew all the while.
Anita and I on a secret mission with some of Our Finest (we were disguised as civilians, of course). 😉
December 2, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Anita and I on a secret mission with some of Our Finest (we were disguised as civilians, of course). 😉
Even prior to the “It was the best of times” passage, Dickens writes “Recalled to Life,” the recurring theme throughout the novel. Similarly, he introduces “the spike that intervenes” in the opening paragraph of ‘Drood,’ picking it up again in many other forms throughout his unfinished masterpiece.
December 2, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Even prior to the “It was the best of times” passage, Dickens writes “Recalled to Life,” the recurring theme throughout the novel. Similarly, he introduces “the spike that intervenes” in the opening paragraph of ‘Drood,’ picking it up again in many other forms throughout his unfinished masterpiece.
1970’s Pilates ball
December 2, 2025 at 12:19 AM
1970’s Pilates ball
Perhaps John Jasper never wanted to kill then quick-lime his nephew Edwin Drood; perhaps he wanted to quick-lime opium housed in crypts at Cloisterham Cathedral in order to rid hisself, his town, and his nation from the evils of the drug.
December 1, 2025 at 6:54 AM
Perhaps John Jasper never wanted to kill then quick-lime his nephew Edwin Drood; perhaps he wanted to quick-lime opium housed in crypts at Cloisterham Cathedral in order to rid hisself, his town, and his nation from the evils of the drug.
That Great Black Scarf
November 29, 2025 at 9:15 PM
That Great Black Scarf
The spike that intervenes, intervening.
November 29, 2025 at 9:13 PM
The spike that intervenes, intervening.
Dickens's Wall Clock with Professor Michael Slater
YouTube video by Charles Dickens Museum
youtu.be
November 27, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Got our flowers planted just before the rains here in Florida. :::whew:::
November 26, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Got our flowers planted just before the rains here in Florida. :::whew:::
Rosa seeking sanctuary in Cloisterham Cathedral.
November 26, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Rosa seeking sanctuary in Cloisterham Cathedral.
Google’s AI (Gemini’s) interpretation of The Spike that Intervenes Theory of The Mystery of Edwin Drood:
November 22, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Google’s AI (Gemini’s) interpretation of The Spike that Intervenes Theory of The Mystery of Edwin Drood:
“Since the mace was omitted, Jasper must be acquitted!”
November 22, 2025 at 4:13 AM
“Since the mace was omitted, Jasper must be acquitted!”
For fun, I asked an unbiased judge, ChatGPT, which Drood theory would hold the most water in the court of law, and it was Mark Wheats’ “Spike that Intervenes Theory” that prevailed. (Keep in mind that this doesn’t even include “The Shell Game Theory of Drood”).
November 22, 2025 at 2:24 AM
For fun, I asked an unbiased judge, ChatGPT, which Drood theory would hold the most water in the court of law, and it was Mark Wheats’ “Spike that Intervenes Theory” that prevailed. (Keep in mind that this doesn’t even include “The Shell Game Theory of Drood”).
I asked AI about one of my books, and though it’s accurate when conveying back cover information, there comes a point where I can tell AI never read my story, so it starts fudging (like a middle schooler fudging a book report in front of class).
November 20, 2025 at 8:18 PM
I asked AI about one of my books, and though it’s accurate when conveying back cover information, there comes a point where I can tell AI never read my story, so it starts fudging (like a middle schooler fudging a book report in front of class).