Edgar Allan is a pioneer of the short story genre. His stories typically captured themes of the macabre and included elements of the mysterious. The Gold-Bug is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in 1843. The story, set on Sullivan s Island, South Carolina, is often compared with Poe s tales of ratiocination as an early form of detective fiction. Poe became aware of the public s interest in secret writing in 1840 and asked readers to challenge his skills as a code-breaker. He took advantage of the popularity of cryptography as he was writing The Gold-Bug , and the success of the story centers on one such cryptogram. The plot follows William Legrand who was bitten by a gold-colored bug. His servant Jupiter fears that Legrand is going insane and goes to Legrand s friend, an unnamed narrator, who agrees to visit his old friend. Legrand pulls the other two into an adventure after deciphering a secret message that will lead to a buried treasure.