Charles Dickens’s last novel, unfinished as it is, has become a call to arms to a legion of fans, academics and authors to solve the mystery and complete the uncompleted. The Victorian Popular Fiction Association will publish The Drood Inquiry, which will investigate and celebrate the many weird and wonderful responses to Dickens’s story, exploring the ways in which these solutions reflect upon the authors’ attitudes to Dickens and his legacy, and how Dickens’s story and characters exist both within the boundaries of the original text and without in the numerous spin-offs that have arisen.

Proposals are welcome for 20 minute papers to be presented at a one day conference on the themes of the book or the insights its subsequent treatment can provide on Dickens’s reputation, as well
of course as any discussion of theories on how the story ends! Proposals (up to 500 words) and a brief biographical note should be sent by 31 May 2014.