Wilkie Collins
The Moonstone is a 19th-century novel by the master of sensation fiction, Wilkie Collins. It is considered, with The Woman in White, to be his best work, and is also commonly seen as the first English detective novel. Many of the standard ground rules for detective fiction can be found in this work, as well as examples of Collins' forward-thinking approach to the treatment of Indians and servants.
Best known for his popular forays into detective fiction, Wilkie Collins' The Haunted Hotel blends elements of the classic whodunit with creepy overtones of Gothic horror. The tale delves into the mysterious disappearance of a newlywed aristocrat whose blushing bride may be harboring a dark secret.
This domestic drama from beloved author Wilkie Collins focuses on the abiding power of family, whether by birth or by chance. A profoundly disabled girl is adopted by a loving family, but her true origins are shrouded in mystery. When a few intrepid friends begin trying to find out more about her history, a wholly unexpected chain of events is set into motion.
What if you had been deprived of sight for your entire life—only to have your vision restored just as you found yourself falling in love for the first time? That's the seemingly miraculous fate that befalls the Miss Finch of the title in this classic novel from abidingly popular nineteenth-century author Wilkie Collins.
Rosamund Treverton has it all—an affluent lifestyle, a loving mother who dotes on her, and a seemingly bright future. But a deathbed confession from her mother makes it clear that Rosamund's past hides a dark secret. This suspenseful family mystery will keep readers entranced until the very last page.
7) Man and Wife
Dig into this juicy domestic drama from famed British novelist and playwright Wilkie Collins. Not only does Man and Wife provide a stunning account of the ups and downs of married life in the Victorian period, it also offers a detailed takedown of the backwards laws and traditions that governed the institution during that era.
Are our morals imbued in us through teaching and example, or do we come into this world with our personality and values written in our genes? The Legacy of Cain is novelist Wilkie Collins' engrossing take on the age-old nature-or-nurture question. When a woman sentenced to death begs a man of the cloth to care for her soon-to-be-orphaned child, the situation presents itself as a profound conundrum: is the offspring inevitably doomed to repeat
...In addition to his reputation as one of the important early innovators in the genre of detective fiction, Wilkie Collins is recognized as being one of the first writers to feature female sleuths in his stories. In The Law and the Lady, Collins' heroine succeeds in cracking a tough case that has left professional investigators stumped.
11) No Thoroughfare
In the gripping drama No Thoroughfare, two of the Victorian era's most popular writers—Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens—team up to tell a tale of mistaken identity and miscommunication. The fates of two orphans with the same name are inextricably intertwined, and just when it appears that the coincidence will result in disaster, a brave soul steps forward to right decades of errors and obfuscation.
16) Basil
Throughout his lifetime, Charles Dickens produced several works of fiction and non-fiction in collaboration with his friend and fellow writer, Wilkie Collins. This fictionalized account of a walking tour the two took together highlights the pair at their best. The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices is a hilarious and engaging tale that will please Dickens fans and those with an affinity for top-notch travel writing.