“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe

Poe's most famous short story has a different focus than pop culture would have you believe. The preamble to the attempted cover-up occupies three of the story's four pages, and the investigating officers have no specific lines of dialogue. "Heart"'s heart comes from its immortal closing moments (in more ways than one), but they'd not land if not for Poe's efficiency and ear for character, his protagonist further ensuring we understand his insanity as he denies its existance. It's a gift that informs much of Poe's writing, though this might be the most fully realized manifestation of his "horror" side.

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