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Abe Lincoln isn't the only birthday boy celebrating his big 200 next year. January 19, 2009 marks the bicentennial of the birth of Edgar Allen Poe,  and according to tradition,  Baltimore's legendary Poe Toaster, clad in a black cape and white scarf, will leave three roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac at Poe's grave in the wee hours of the morning.

To honor the strange genius who shaped American literature and created the modern genres of horror and mystery, the Mystery Writers of America are publishing two anthologies this January. Edited by Michael Connelly, In the Shadow of the Master: Classic Tales by Edgar Allen Poe (Morrow. ISBN 978-0-06-169039-6. $24.95) collects 16 of  Poe's greatest stories ("The Cask of Amontillado", "The Masque of Red Death", etc.) with accompanyiing essays discussing Poe's influence on the works of such mystery and suspense writers as Laura Lippman, Jeffery Deaver, Sue Grafton, and Stephen King. On a Raven's Wing, (Harper. ISBN 978-0-06-169042-6. pap. $14.95)  edited by Stuart M. Kaminsky, collects 20 original stories inspired by Poe and written by such contemporary masters as Mary Higgins Clark, S.J. Rozan, Thomas H. Cook, and James W. Hall. Out now is Poe's Children: The New Horror, which celebrates Poe's impact on horror fiction.

Beginning this Thursday, about 1,500 of Poe's heirs (writers and fans of mystery) will gather in Baltimore at the four-day 2008 international Bouchercon conference. The American guest of honor is Baltimore native Laura Lippman, and other authors attending are Lawrence Block, Lee Child, Rhys Bowen, and John Harvey. Panels cover a wide range of topics, incuding a very interesting Friday morning event in which Poe scholar Ed Pettit argues why Poe's body should be moved to Philadelphia. (He will also debate a Baltimore opponent on January 13 at the Philadelphia Free Library.) Of course, that reminds me of the old W.C. Fields joke about Philly. Would Poe really rather be in Philadelphia?