The Woman in White
One of the earliest works of detective fiction, The Woman in White is an epistolary novel set in the late mid-19th century, written by Wilkie Collins , a man who is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. This is definitely literature, the sleuthing and legal mind at its best. The foreword/preamble to the book sets the tone and pace of the novel, which essentially is a collection of statements of the various important people that figure in it. Much like a trial scene where each witness provides his side of the story, in facts. Walter Hartright, a twenty-something drawing master, receives an offer of employment, to teach drawing to two young ladies that reside in Limmeridge House. As he bids his family farewell and sets off to fulfill his commission, he meets a lady dressed in white. He doesn't realize until later that she was an escapee from a private asylum but thinks nothing of it as he settles in to his role as tutor. His employer, Mr. Fredrick Fairlie, is a middle aged man w...