Wilkie Collins

Wilkie Collins (1824-89), English writer, often regarded as the originator of detective fiction. He was born in London. Unsuccessful at business and law, he preferred to write. In 1851 he began a close association with Charles Dickens, with whom he collaborated on the novel No Thoroughfare (1867). Collins's mystery thriller The Woman in White (1860) and the detective story The Moonstone (1868), which first appeared in periodicals edited by Dickens, are considered masterpieces of their respective genres. In both, although the greatest emphasis is placed on the construction of a plot designed to baffle the reader, characterization is also important. The vivid portrayal of Sergeant Cuff in The Moonstone is the first study in English fiction of a detective actually at work. Among Collins's other works are travel sketches, the historical romance Antonina, or the Fall of Rome (1850), the series of ghost stories After Dark (1856), and the novels No Name (1862) and Armadale (1866). His later fiction deals with social problems, mixed with elements of mystery and melodrama.