Written in 1859 by William "Wilkie" Collins, this is considered one of the first mystery novels & is an early example of detective fiction, which many others modeled their own detective stories after. Collins was a good friend of Charles Dickens & received even greater success than his contemporary, being the most loved & best paid Victorian author for a time. His great success continued until his death in 1870, when Dickens' reputation rose to take Collins' place.
My first impressions of this novel are that it reads very easily (considering when it was written), & the more I read it, the harder it is to put down. I am about 1/3 of the way through & am anxious to see where everything leads.
