"A Murder, a Mystery, and a Marriage" is a short story written by Mark Twain in 1876. It was published in a very small, unauthorized edition in 1945, with an authorized edition not appearing until 2001.

Composition and publication history

Initially Twain proposed to

William Dean Howells William Dean Howells (; March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American realist novelist, literary critic, and playwright, nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters". He was particularly known for his tenure as editor of ''The Atlantic Monthly'', ...

that they entice twelve authors, including himself, to each write a short story to the same plot. A similar project was proposed later, resulting in the 1908 collaborative work ''

The Whole Family ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'', though Twain declined the offer to participate. The scheme for "A Murder, a Mystery, and a Marriage" failed, and Twain was the only one to flesh out the plot. The resulting manuscript remained unpublished until it was purchased by Lew D. Feldman. Feldman held that ownership of the original manuscript gave him the right to publish. To test this theory, in 1945 he brought out a limited edition of 16 copies of the printed story. The case went all the way to the

U.S. Court of Appeals The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal judiciary. The courts of appeals are divided into 11 numbered circuits that cover geographic areas of the United States and hear appeals fr ...

before it was determined that "Ownership of a manuscript does not include the right of publication". It was not until 2001 that publication rights were settled, and the story was finally published in the '' Atlantic Monthly''. This was followed by a book edition by

W.W. Norton W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton An ...

().

References

External links

A review by Michael Pearson

Short stories by Mark Twain 1876 short stories 2001 short stories Works originally published in The Atlantic (magazine) {{1870s-story-stub