Sensation stories : tales of mystery and suspense / Wilkie Collins ; edited and with an introduction by Peter Haining.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Collins, Wilkie, 1824-1889.

Contributor:

Haining, Peter.

Standardized Title:

Selections. 2004

Language:

English

Genre:

Short stories.

Physical Description:

279 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Peter Owen ; Chester Springs, PA : Distributed in the USA by Dufour Editions, 2004.

Summary:

The 'Sensation Novel' ushered in the modern mystery genre. It was inaugurated by Wilkie Collins's best-seller The Woman in White in 1860. But this collection, selected by Peter Haining, reveals that Collins had actually been writing realistic stories of suspense for at least a decade before this. With dramatic plots that revolved around hidden secrets, bloody crimes, villainous schemes and clever detective work all occurring in everyday settings, Wilkie Collins helped to shape a new genre that was worlds away from anything being written by his contemporaries -- and one that was to have a far-reaching influence. The assorted rarities assembled in Sensation Stories include a pioneering tale featuring a female detective, a powerful precursor to The Woman in White, and what critics have called the first British detective story. Originally published in various forms, including in Charles Dickens's magazine, many of these pieces have not been in print for more than a century. Thrilling reads in their own right, all ten stories here showcase Wilkie Collins's towering contribution to the development of the mystery genre. Indeed, Collins is now commonly regarded as the inventor of the modern detective story and the forefather of a crime fiction tradition that runs through Arthur Conan Doyle to Thomas Harris today.

Contents:

The Last Stage Coachman 25

A Terribly Strange Bed 31

Nine O'Clock! 49

The Fourth Poor Traveller 69

The Dream Woman 87

The Diary of Anne Rodway 113

A Marriage Tragedy 149

Who Is the Thief? 207

The Clergyman's Confession 237

Love's Random Shot 263.

ISBN:

0720612209

OCLC:

53911954