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Portrait image of Wilkie Collins

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Collins, Wilkie

The British author Wilkie Collins (William Wilkie Collins) wrote a series of extremely successful novels as well as a number of short stories and plays. T.S. Eliot later described his novel The Moonstone (1868) as "the world's first, longest and best detective story". Collins was one of the most popular authors of his time, both at home and abroad. He was close to Charles Dickens and a notorious...

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Literary figures

John Appleby

Gender: Male

Detective inspector, later commissioner, at Scotland Yard, and so clever that he is eventually knighted by the queen. He is the main character in a row of novels and short stories by Michael Innes, and ages gracefully at the same pace as his creator. When he retires, Sir John Appleby buys a country estate. He is married to sculptress Judith Raven, and they have a son, Bobby, who himself acts the...

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