Generally considered the very first English mystery novel, The Woman in White features the extraordinary heroine Marian Halcombe and her sleuthing partner, Walter Hartright, pitted against the diabolical team of Count Fosco, (the sinister Napoleon of Crime), and the utterly corrupt Sir Percival Glyde.

Walter Hartright's encounter at midnight with a mysterious “woman in white” draws him into a vortex of crime, kidnapping, and international intrigue.

A gripping tale of murder, intrigue, madness, and mistaken identity, Collins's psychological thriller has not been out of print since its publication in 1859.

A masterwork of intricate creation, The Woman in White set new standards of suspense and excitement, and achieved sales topping even those of Charles Dickens, Collins's friend and mentor.

WILKIE COLLINS (1824-1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and author of short stories. His best-known works are The Woman in White, The Moonstone, and Armadale. Alongside Edgar Allan Poe in America, Britain’s Wilkie Collins is regarded as the inventor of the modern detective story.