25 Novels of Wilkie Collins

English novelist, credited with writing the first mystery.


Wilkie was immensely popular in his time, and wrote 25 novels and over 50 short stories. His most successful works were The Woman in White, No Name, Armadale, and The Moonstone. He was one of the first, and is still one of the greatest, writers of mystery fiction, and has been much imitated over the years.

Contents

The Woman in White (1860)

The Moonstone (1868)

No Name (1862)

Armadale (1866)

A House to Let (1858)

The Haunted Hotel (1878)

The Evil Genius (1886)

The Law and the Lady (1875)

After Dark (1856)

The Black Robe (1881)

The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices (1857)

Little Novels (1887)

No Thoroughfare (1867)

The Frozen Deep (1874)

Hide and Seek (1854)

The Dead Alive (1873)

The Queen of Hearts (1859)

Man and Wife (1870)

Basil (1852)

Poor Miss Finch (1872)

Blind Love (1889)

The Legacy of Cain (1889)

Heart and Science (1883)

I Say No (1884)

The Fallen Leaves (1879)

 The Woman in White-

It follows the story of two sisters living in Victorian England with their selfish, uninterested uncle as their guardian. Marian Halcombe is the elder of the two sisters, and a remarkably ugly woman, but with courage, strength and resourcefulness in abundance. The younger, her beautiful half-sister Laura Fairlie, is engaged to a rich man by the name of Sir Percival Glyde.

 The Moonstone-

The Moonstone tells of the events surrounding the disappearance of a mysterious (and cursed) yellow diamond. T. S. Eliot called it 'the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels'. It contains a number of ideas which became common tropes of the genre, including a crime being investigated by talented amateurs who happen to be present when it is committed, and two police officers who exemplify respectively the 'Scotland Yard bungler' and the skilled, professional detective.

 No Name-

A novel that revolves around the issue of illegitimacy.

 Armadale-

Unusual and convoluted mystery. Viewed by the Clap-trap morality of the day, this may be a very daring book. Judged by the Christian morality which is of all time, it is simply a book daring enough to speak the truth.

The Black Robe-

A high ranking Catholic priest schemes to recover land considered Church property.

 The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices (1857)-

based on Dickens's and Collins's walking tour in the north of England.

 Basil-

A tale of criminality, almost revolting from its domestic horrors.