Edgar Allan Poe (born Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 October 7, 1849) was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and American literature as a whole, and he was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story. Poe is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in financially difficult life and career.Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on May 22, 1859. In 1890 his novel, A Study in Scarlet, introduced the character of Detective Sherlock Holmes. Doyle would go on to write 60 stories about Sherlock Holmes.Gilbert Keith Chesterton, better known as G. K. Chesterton, was a writer, poet, philosopher, playwright, journalist, speaker, theologian, biographer, literary and English art critic. Chesterton is often referred to as the "prince of the paradox."