2008-06-09 The original whodunnits

Wilkie Collins never fails to provide gripping and intelligent detective novels, and The Haunted Hotel pretty much does exactly what it promises. Set in Venice and London, both brilliantly evoked, the plot twists and plethora of suspicion and revelation serve to make this book unputdownable. Whilst lacking the length to rival The Moonstone or the Woman in White for complexity, The Haunted Hotel is a fine example of the 'detective-fever' that swept Victorian England in the 1860s.
Incidentally, I would definately recommend this copy rather than an Oxford Classic or whatever, merely because the size and binding make you feel like a real lady of leisure, sat in a bay window admiring your estate or something. Also draws approving looks from people on public transport. Find a park bench in the summer and spend an afternoon trying to guess who the culprit is before the novel closes.