What: Wilkie Collins wrote The Woman in White in 1859. The nice thing about early mystery novels like this is that the authors aren't so self-conscious about trying to give readers some new twist on suspense. Collins was able to be one of the first to mix fresh elements --- an amateur detective, multiple narrative voices --- with the sinister counts, insane asylums, and secret societies of Gothic fiction.
Comparable to: A bit like someone smooshed a Dickens novel with Northanger Abbey, and then put Oliver Rathbone (a barrister from Anne Perry's William Monk series) in charge of getting to the bottom of things.
Representative quote: "Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service."
You might not like it if: Sinister counts, insane asylums, and secret societies are too lurid for your tastes.
How to get it: It's borrowable, Kindle-able, and buy-able. There's also a 1998 BBC adaptation starring Justine Waddell, Andrew Lincoln, and Tara Fitzgerald.
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