<b>The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens</b>&nbsp;is the final novel by&nbsp;Charles Dickens, originally published in 1870.<br />Though the novel is named after the character Edwin Drood, it focuses more on Drood&#39;s uncle, John Jasper, a&nbsp;precentor,&nbsp;choirmaster&nbsp;and&nbsp;opium&nbsp;addict, who is lusting after his pupil, Rosa Bud.<br /><br />Miss Bud, Edwin Drood&#39;s fianc&eacute;e, has also caught the eye of the high-spirited and hot-tempered Neville Landless. Landless and Edwin Drood take an instant dislike to each other. Later Drood disappears under mysterious circumstances. The story is set in Cloisterham, a lightly disguised&nbsp;Rochester.<br /><br />Upon the death of Dickens on 9 June 1870, the novel was left&nbsp;unfinished, only six of a planned twelve instalments having been written. He left no detailed plan for the remaining instalments or solution to the novel&#39;s mystery, and many later adaptations and&nbsp;continuations&nbsp;by other writers have attempted to complete the story.<br /><br />The novel begins as John Jasper leaves a London&nbsp;opium den. The next evening, Edwin Drood visits Jasper, who is the choirmaster at Cloisterham Cathedral and also his uncle.<br /><br />Edwin confides that he has misgivings about his betrothal to Rosa Bud, which had been previously arranged by their respective fathers. The next day, Edwin visits Rosa at the Nuns&#39; House, the boarding school where she lives. They quarrel good-naturedly, which they apparently do frequently during his visits. Meanwhile, Jasper, having an interest in the cathedral crypt, seeks the company of Durdles, a man who knows more about the crypt than anyone else.