What is the name of the detective in 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue'?

The detective in “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” is C. Auguste Dupin. Edgar Allan Poe introduced Dupin in the 1841 story, which is widely regarded as one of the first modern detective tales.

Dupin investigates the brutal murders of Madame L’Espanaye and her daughter in Paris. The case appears impossible: the room is locked, witnesses disagree about a mysterious voice, and the police arrest an innocent bank clerk. Dupin’s method, which Poe called “ratiocination,” depends on close observation, logical inference, and imaginative reconstruction of events.

Dupin is not a professional police detective. He takes the case partly out of intellectual curiosity and partly to prove the accused man’s innocence. His solution reveals that the killer is an escaped orangutan, a twist that distinguishes Poe’s story from later, more realistic mysteries.

Readers sometimes confuse Dupin with Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, but those characters came later and were influenced by Poe’s creation. Dupin returns in “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt” and “The Purloined Letter.”