Mad Monkton and Other Stories by Wilkie Collins

I did not discover Wilkie Collins until about a year ago.  He was a contemporary and friend of Dickens.  His works are what I would call semi-classical literature.  He has the rich vocabulary and elegant language of the 19th century Victorian.  His writings rely a little too heavily on sensational plot lines to be considered serious literature.  However, they are quite enjoyable to read.  If you are looking for a page-turner where the villains are villains, the beautiful heroines are practically saints, and a few ghosts appear, he’s your man.  He is most famous for The Woman in White and The Moonstone (considered the first detective story).  This collection of short stories that I just read were fun, although by the end they had all started to blend together, and become a little too predictable.  The Biter Bit was the most clever and amusing, in that it used an unpleasant egotistical policeman’s letters to narrate the bulk of the tale.