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› Find signed collectible books: 'Alley Kat Blues'
She's a hard-boiled Sacramento P.I. with a soft spot for the unlucky, the unloved, and one special cop named Hank. Her name is Kat Colorado, and in her business curiosity can be more than an occupational hazard--it can be murder.
Kat Colorado knows the dangers of letting a case get too big a piece of your soul. But some cases don't give you a choice, like the death of twenty-two-year-old Courtney Dillard. Kat found her battered body on a dark Sacramento freeway, an apparent hit-and-run victim. Courtney's mother is convinced her death was no accident, and hires Kat to find the truth. As sweet and good-hearted as she was, Courtney had no shortage of enemies, Kat learns. And they make no secret of their belief in blood vengeance.
Kat's also looking for the truth about her relationship with Hank, who's wrestling with his own soul-eating case. A serial killer is stalking the Vegas Strip, and Hank's investigation is taking him over the line. His obsession could cost him both Kat and his career--while Kat's could cost her her life. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Beacon Street Mourning : A Fremont Jones Mystery'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Beyond Eden'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Black Alley'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Black Mountain'
Vowing to avenge the murder of his dear friend, Marko Vukcic, Nero Wolfe, along with his faithful partner, Archie Goodwin, journey to the hazardous mountains of Montenegro. Reissue. NYT. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Bleeding Hearts'
Former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian races against time to prevent a Valentine's Day murder that would keep the perpetrator of a long-unsolved crime secret forever. Reprint. PW. K. [via]

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Blue Edge of Midnight'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Bubbles Ablaze'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Bubbles in Trouble'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Bubbles Unbound'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Carnage of the Realm'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Certain Justice : An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Copy Kat'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Curtains for Three'
› Find signed collectible books: 'Dashiell Hammett'
Complete in one volume, the five books that created the modern American crime novel
In a few years of extraordinary creative energy, Dashiell Hammett invented the modern American crime novel. In the words of Raymond Chandler, "Hammett gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse.... He put these people down on paper as they were, and he made them talk and think in the language they customarily used for these purposes."
The five novels that Hammett published between 1929 and 1934, collected here in one volume, have become part of modern American culture, creating archetypal characters and establishing the ground rules and characteristic tone for a whole tradition of hardboiled writing. Drawing on his own experiences as a Pinkerton detective, Hammett gave a harshly realistic edge to novels that were at the same time infused with a spirit of romantic adventure. His lean and deliberately simplified prose won admiration from such contemporaries as Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, and William Faulkner.
Each novel is distinct in mood and structure. Red Harvest (1929) epitomizes the violence and momentum of his Black Mask stories about the anonymous detective the Continental Op, in a raucous and nightmarish evocation of political corruption and gang warfare in a western mining town. In The Dain Curse (1929) the Op returns in a more melodramatic tale involving jewel theft, drugs, and a religious cult. With The Maltese Falcon (1930) and its protagonist Sam Spade, Hammett achieved his most enduring popular success, a tightly constructed quest story shot through with a sense of disillusionment and the arbitrariness of personal destiny. The Glass Key (1931) is a further exploration of city politics at their most scurrilous. His last novel was The Thin Man (1934), a ruefully comic tale paying homage to the traditional mystery form and featuring Nick and Nora Charles, the sophisticated inebriates who would enjoy a long afterlife in the movies. [via]
› Find signed collectible books: 'Dashiell Hammett'
Complete in one volume, the five books that created the modern American crime novel
In a few years of extraordinary creative energy, Dashiell Hammett invented the modern American crime novel. In the words of Raymond Chandler, "Hammett gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse.... He put these people down on paper as they were, and he made them talk and think in the language they customarily used for these purposes."
The five novels that Hammett published between 1929 and 1934, collected here in one volume, have become part of modern American culture, creating archetypal characters and establishing the ground rules and characteristic tone for a whole tradition of hardboiled writing. Drawing on his own experiences as a Pinkerton detective, Hammett gave a harshly realistic edge to novels that were at the same time infused with a spirit of romantic adventure. His lean and deliberately simplified prose won admiration from such contemporaries as Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, and William Faulkner.
Each novel is distinct in mood and structure. Red Harvest (1929) epitomizes the violence and momentum of his Black Mask stories about the anonymous detective the Continental Op, in a raucous and nightmarish evocation of political corruption and gang warfare in a western mining town. In The Dain Curse (1929) the Op returns in a more melodramatic tale involving jewel theft, drugs, and a religious cult. With The Maltese Falcon (1930) and its protagonist Sam Spade, Hammett achieved his most enduring popular success, a tightly constructed quest story shot through with a sense of disillusionment and the arbitrariness of personal destiny. The Glass Key (1931) is a further exploration of city politics at their most scurrilous. His last novel was The Thin Man (1934), a ruefully comic tale paying homage to the traditional mystery form and featuring Nick and Nora Charles, the sophisticated inebriates who would enjoy a long afterlife in the movies. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Dashiell Hammett: Five Complete Novels'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Death of a Dude'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Death Times Three'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Dewey Decimated'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Die Trying'
Television writer Lee Child's otherwise riveting first thriller, Killing Floor, was criticized by some reviewers because of an unconvincing coincidence at its center. Child addresses that problem in his second book--and thumbs his nose at those reviewers--by having his hero, ex-military policeman Jack Reacher, just happen to be walking by a Chicago dry cleaner when an attractive young FBI agent named Holly Johnson comes out carrying nine expensive outfits and a crutch to support her soccer-injured knee. As Holly stumbles, Reacher grabs her and her garments--which gets him kidnapped along with her by a trio of very determined badguys. "He had no problem with how he had gotten grabbed up in the first place," Child writes. "Just a freak of chance had put him alongside Holly Johnson at the exact time the snatch was going down. He was comfortable with that. He understood freak chances. Life was built out of freak chances, however much people would like to pretend otherwise." Lucky for Holly--whose father just happens to be an Army general and current head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, thus making her a tempting target for a bunch of Montana-based extremists--Reacher still has all the skills and strengths associated with his former occupation. And Child still knows how to write scenes of violent action better than virtually anyone else around. --Dick Adler [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Don't Look Back'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Doorbell Rang'
Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books are all great fun, full of wonderful food and the arcane details of hobbies as diverse as orchid growing and Balkan history. But in this outing, things suddenly become much more serious when Wolfe and his sidekick Archie Goodwin face the malevolent forces of J. Edgar Hoover and his FBI minions. Luckily, Stout's heart and his writing style are more than equal to the challenge. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Down the Garden Path'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Elvis, Jesus & Coca-Cola'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Eye of Vengeance'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Fatal Obsession'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Father Hunt'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Feast of Murder'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Fer-De-Lance'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Festival of Deaths'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Finnegan's Week'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'First Cases'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Five Complete Hercule Poirot Novels'
Agatha Christie-Five Complete Hercule Poirot Novels in one hardback. Published by Avenel-1980 Edition. Novels included; Thirteen at Dinner/Murder on The Orient Express/The ABC Murders/Cards on the Table/ Death on the Nile. This old book is in very good condition. Collectible & Rare. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Fountain of Death'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Free Fall: Library Edition'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Gambit'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'God Bless John Wayne'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Gramercy Classics : Sherlock Holmes'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Hercule Poirot's Casebook'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Honeymoon With Murder'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Instant Enemy'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Iron Hand of Mars'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Ivory Dagger'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Kat's Cradle'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Killing Night'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lullaby Town: Library Edition'

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Makeover Murders'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Maltese Falcon'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Might As Well Be Dead'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Monkey's Raincoat'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Moonstone'
T.S. Eliot called `The Moonstone the first and greatest English detective novel. The novel is worthy of such praise.
The story begins with a brief prologue describing how the famous yellow diamond was captured during a military campaign in India by a British officer in 1799. The action moves quickly to 1848 England, where, according to the British officers will, the diamond has been given to one of the soldiers young relatives, Rachel Verinder. Yet only hours after the diamond arrives at the Verinder estate, it disappears. Was it stolen by a relative? A servant? And who are these three Indian men who keep hanging around the estate?
`The Moonstone is told from the point of view of several characters. The first portion of the tale is told by Gabriel Betteredge, house steward of the Verinder estate, who has been working for the family practically his entire life. Betteredges account holds the readers interest as he introduces the main players and the crime itself. The next account, by distant Verinder relative Miss Clack, is humorous and somewhat important. But after Miss Clacks account, things really take off at breakneck speed.
Readers who latch onto the T.S. Eliot quote expecting a modern detective tale will be sorely disappointed. You arent going to see anything resembling Jeffrey Deaver, James Patterson, Sue Grafton, or even Mary Higgins Clark. You also wont see Mickey Spillane, Dashiel Hammett, or Raymond Chandler. Nor will you see Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, or Martha Grimes. You wont even see Arthur Conan Doyle. But you WILL see the novel that influenced them all.
Youll also see something else. Something that modern mystery/detective writers have for the most part lost. Characters. Oh sure, modern writers have characters, but for the most part, the reader only learns enough about the character to forward the plot. In our time, plot is King. When `The Moonstone was published (1868), [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Mother Hunt'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Murder in Three Acts'
The Reverend Stephen Babbington seldom imbibes, but at a gala thrown by actor Sir Charles Cartwright, he indulges in a cocktail and falls over dead. Since there is no trace of poison or foul play, the case is closed . . . until an identical death at a London party arouses the suspicions of Hercule Poirot. Also published as Murder in Three Acts. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Mystery of the Blue Train'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Name of the Rose'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Not a Creature Was Stirring : A Gregor Demarkian Holiday Mystery'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Not Quite Dead Enough'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Poseidon's Gold'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Precious Blood'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Quieter Than Sleep'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Quoth the Raven'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Red Box'
Nero Wolfe, gourmet and connoisseur, who can solve a crime without leaving his desk, is investigating the murder of a beautiful model with his assistant, Archie Goodwin. Neither of them realise it is to trigger the supreme insult of Wolfe's career - another murder, right in his own home. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Right to Die'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Rubber Band'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Seven Complete Nero Wolfe Novels'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Shadow Men'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Shadows in Bronze'
Rome. AD 71. Marcus Didius Falco, now Imperial Agent to Emperor Vespasian, is keeping busy tidying up corpses, kicking over the traces of a failed coup, making a bit on the side in stolen lead ingots. But a new plot to usurp the purple robes of power puts Falco on the back of a mule with a one-way ticket down the Appian Way - bumping into trouble, treason and Helena Justina, a senator's daughter he's trying hard to forget. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Shooting at Midnight'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Shooting at Midnight A.Kodiak and B.Logan Novel'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Silver Pigs'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Stalking the Angel'
Hired by a hotel magnate to locate a priceless Japanese manuscript, L.A. private eye Elvis Cole encounters the notorious Yakuza, the Japanese Mob, and is drawn into a game of sexual obsession, amorality, and evil. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Three at Wolfe's Door'
In Three at Wolfe's Door, death comes a-calling not once but three times in this murderous collection of cases from the files of the world's greatest detective. First there is the exclusive dinner party where the guests are gourmets, arsenic is the appetizer, and the suspects are five of the most gorgeous gals in New York. Next, a wandering cab pulls up to Wolfe's door, containing a lady driver who doesn't belong... and a comely corpse wih a knife between her ribs. And finally, a championship rodeo roars into town, featuring square-jawed cowboys, bright-eyed cowgirls, and a dead millionaire with a fancy lariat for a necktie. Nero Wolfe, the 286 pound beer consuming marvel, who wears yellow silk pajamas, loves orchids and rarely leaves home has been a popular character for seventy years in Rex Stout's books, films and recently a successful television series. His sidekick Archie Goodwin helps prod Wolfe into action. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Three Men Out'
Nero Wolfe and sidekick Archie Goodwin attempt to solve three puzzling cases of murder: in one, a person's questions lead to his death; another finds a man killed in a soundproof office; and in the last, a baseball rookie is removed from the lineup through murder. Reissue. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Three Witnesses'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Too Many Cooks'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Trio for Blunt Instruments'
If Nero Wolfe and his sidekick, Archie, would ever admit to an Achilles' heel-which they wouldn't-it would be a weakness for damsels in distress. In these three charming chillers the duo answer the call of helpless heroines with nothing to lose-except their lives. First a beautiful young Aphrodite comes to Nero looking for a hero-and the answer to the mystery of her father's death....Then an old flame of Archie's reignites with a plan that may corner him into a lifetime commitment-behind bars....And finally a detective's work is never done, as a hot tip leads the team into the sizzling center of a sexy scandal that could leave them cold-dead cold. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Triple Jeopardy'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Trouble in Triplicate'
Nero Wolfe investigates the murders of Dazy Perrit, an underworld kingpin, Ben Jensen, a well-connected publisher, and Eugene R. Poor, an inventor of novelties. Reissue. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Valediction: A Spenser Novel'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Venus in Copper'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Visible Darkness'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Where There's a Will'
Investigating the bizarre will of late multimillionaire Noel Hawthorne--who left the bulk of his estate to his mistress and nearly nothing to his three sisters--astute sleuth Nero Wolfe stumbles upon a legacy of murder. Reprint. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Wild Kat'
We met P.I. Kat Colorado in 1989's Best First Private Eye Novel of the Year; she's gone on to garner a Shamus, an Anthony, and a sheaf of rave reviews. Here, she's back to bodyguard a crusading whistle-blower with a few nasty secrets of her own. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Woman in White'
There, in the middle of the broad, bright high-roadthere, as if it had that moment sprung out of the earth or dropped from the heavenstood the figure of a solitary Woman, dressed from head to foot in white garments.
Thus young Walter Hartright first meets the mysterious woman in white in what soon became one of the most popular novels of the nineteenth century. Secrets, mistaken identities, surprise revelations, amnesia, locked rooms and locked asylums, and an unorthodox villain made this mystery thriller an instant success when it first appeared in 1860, and it has continued to enthrall readers ever since. From the heros foreboding before his arrival at Limmeridge House to the nefarious plot concerning the beautiful Laura, the breathtaking tension of Collinss narrative created a new literary genre of suspense fiction, which profoundly shaped the course of English popular writing.
Collinss other great mystery, The Moonstone, has been called the finest detective story ever written, but it was this work that so gripped the imagination of the world that Wilkie Collins had his own tombstone inscribed: Author of The Woman in White. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The World of Sherlock Holmes'
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