Wilkie Collins

Wilkie Collins (1824–1889) was a pioneering English Victorian author who fathered the modern English detective novel. Renowned for intricate plots and suspense, his most famous works, The Woman in White (1860) and The Moonstone (1868), revolutionized mystery and sensation fiction.

Key Works:

• The Woman in White (1860): The archetypal "sensation novel," famous for its multiple narrators and gripping mystery.
• The Moonstone (1868): Widely celebrated as the first true English detective novel and a pioneer of the police procedural genre.
• Armadale (1866) & No Name (1862): Further examples of his complex plotting and exploration of social issues.

Life & Legacy:

• Partnership with Dickens: Collins was a close friend, mentor, and collaborator of Charles Dickens. They often co-wrote plays and published fiction in Dickens' magazines, such as All the Year Round.
• Unconventional Lifestyle: A vocal critic of Victorian marriage, Collins never married. He divided his time between his long-term partner Caroline Graves and his common-law wife Martha Rudd.
• Opium Addiction: Collins suffered from chronic gout and arthritis, leading to a severe addiction to laudanum (an opium-alcohol mix). He famously hallucinated parts of The Moonstone while under the drug's influence.