[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mystery_of_edwin_drood.png]]
''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'' is Creator/CharlesDickens's last novel. As was usual for Dickens, the novel was written and published in serial installments; Dickens [[DiedDuringProduction died after completing only six]] of the projected twelve installments, leaving the novel incomplete and the mystery unresolved.

The plot revolves around the disappearance (perhaps murder) of Edwin Drood, whose fiancée Rosa Bud is an object of attraction for several other characters, including his uncle, John Jasper, and the proud Neville Landless.

The solution of the mystery is actually known: Drood's uncle, John Jasper, is the murderer. Dickens had told several people whodunnit, and his friend John Forster later published a synopsis of the novel's planned conclusion bringing together various details Dickens had mentioned to him, including Edwin's fate, whodunnit, and the intended fates of other significant characters. This hasn't stopped multiple people writing their own endings, not all of them agreeing with Forster's account.

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!!The novel provides examples of:
* AbusiveParents: Helena and Neville Landless were raised first by a violently abusive stepfather, then by the obnoxious, neglectful Mr. Honeythunder.
* AllThereInTheManual: As Website/TheOtherWiki points out, Dickens named Jasper as the murderer to at least three people (his son, his illustrator, and John Forster). He also mentioned Helena's marriage to Mr. Crisparkle and Rosa's to Mr. Tartar.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Neville and Helena Landless come from Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and are described as having a "dark complexion", but the details of their ethnicity are not clear. In any case, they are foreign enough to prejudice Edwin, Jasper, Mrs. Crisparkle and almost the entire town against them.
** The BBC version specifies that they are Indian on their mother's side and white on their father's, and casts them as Indian actors.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Jasper bursts out with one to Rosa shortly after Edwin's death. She recoils in disgust, seeing his actions as a betrayal to Edwin, but he couldn't care less.
* ArrangedMarriage: Rosa Bud and Mr Drood are to enter into a marriage arranged by their late fathers.
* BetterAsFriends: Rosa and Edwin amicably agree to call off their engagement.
* CutShort: One of literature's most famous examples. Dickens' sudden death left the second half of the novel unwritten.
%%* EvilUncle: John Jasper, especially in the versions where he's the murderer.
* GoodShepherd: The Rev. Septimus Crisparkle, a friend and mentor to both Landless twins and an active peacemaker between rivals Neville and Edwin.
%%* HeartwarmingOrphan: Rosa and, to a lesser extent, Edwin.
* HotBlooded: Neville is very easily provoked, a trait which Jasper cleverly exploits in order to frame him as Edwin's murderer and deflect suspicion from himself.
* HotForStudent: Jasper is Rosa's music teacher, and obsessed with her. A more benign example is Mr. Crisparkle, who gradually bonds with Helena as he is indirectly teaching her through her brother.
%%* IKissYourHand: Helena to Mr. Crisparkle, in gratitude for his advice to her brother.
* LeftHanging: Even with the summary of the ending recounted by Dickens to Forster, some bits are not resolved. The identity and motivation of Dick Datchery remains a complete mystery.
%%* LightFeminineDarkFeminine: Rosa and Helena.
* MeaningfulName: As in every Dickens novel. We have Rosa Bud, the Landless twins who are without a home, a sailor named Mr. Tartar, Mr. Crisparkle (the name suggests the words "crystal" and "sparkle", to suggest both his purity and his habit of swimming in cold water), "Stony" Durdles the gravestone carver, and the aggressive philanthropist Mr. Honeythunder. Septimus Crisparkle's given name is due to his mother having had six stillborn sons before him, which explains why she is so protective.
* MamasBoy: Mr. Crisparkle is this to his mother, although unlike most examples of this trope, it's portrayed as very endearing.
%%* NamesToTrustImmediately: Rosa Bud.
* NeverFoundTheBody: Edwin Drood's body remains unfound in the completed portion of the story; at least one continuation has him reappearing alive and well at a dramatically appropriate moment. According to Forster, Dickens' intention was that they would have FinallyFoundTheBody, its location being a pointer to the identity of his murderer.
* OpiumDen: John Jasper visits one several times.
* ParentalSubstitute: Mr. Grewgious, though eccentric, is a genuinely good and loving guardian to Rosa. Less so Mr. Honeythunder to the Landlesses. Then there are Jasper and Edwin, whose relationship is complicated to say the least.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Reverend Crisparkle delivers one to Mr Honeythunder that's about a page and a half long.
* ServileSnarker: Bazzard is incredibly snarky and rude at all times. His employer is such a nice guy that he lets him get away with it, since he feels that Bazzard's going through a lot of trouble just working for him.
* StalkerWithACrush: Jasper to Rosa.
--> '''Rosa:''' He has made a slave of me with his looks. He has forced me to understand him without his saying a word, and he has forced me to keep silence without his uttering a threat.
* TheStoic: Helena, according to Neville, would have let their stepfather "tear her to pieces" before letting him see her shed a tear.
* ThirdPersonPerson: Durdles always refers to himself this way.
* TwinTelepathy: Helena and Neville can understand each other without a word or even a look.

!!Notable continuations and adaptations include:

* The 'James version', published in 1873. Written by an American printer, Thomas James, who claimed he had channelled Dickens's ghost.
* ''The Trial of John Jasper'', a one-off event staged by the Dickens Fellowship in 1914, and featuring several literary luminaries, including Creator/GKChesterton as the judge and Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw as the foreman of the jury. Played very much for laughs.
* ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'', a 1935 film starring [[Film/{{Dracula 1931}} David Manners]] as Edwin Drood and Creator/ClaudeRains as John Jasper.
* ''Theatre/{{Drood}}'', a musical adaptation with multiple possible endings, the murderer being determined in each performance by audience vote.
* ''The D. Case'', a parodic novel in which various famous fictional detectives each give their opinion on the case. Includes the text of Dickens' original spread throughout.
* The BBC broadcast a two-part TV drama of ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'' in 2012, with the first episode covering the installments written by Dickens, and the second based on an original ending written by Gwyneth Hughes.
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