you could try Wilkie Collins' Woman in White, which is an early mystery/suspense thriller
And a classic of its kind, I've heard. I wonder if Gutenberg Project has it.
edit: Didn't he write The Moonstone as well?
My god...he's gonna do the whole speech.
Buffy ,'Chosen'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Connie Neil - Dec 15, 2006 6:02:04 pm PST #1689 of 28160
brillig
Dana - Dec 15, 2006 6:03:54 pm PST #1690 of 28160
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
Yeah. I've only read The Woman in White, which is very sort of Gothic meets Sherlock Holmes (although this was before Sherlock) meets a little Dickens.
Connie Neil - Dec 15, 2006 6:09:34 pm PST #1691 of 28160
brillig
Quite a bit of Wilkie Collins is on Gutenberg. I've nabbed Woman in White, and if it seems like a good read I'll see if I can find it in print at the library. Some things just need to be more comfortably curl-up-able than a Palm Pilot. Plus I have to hit the scroll button too often for comfortable reading.
Strega - Dec 15, 2006 6:23:38 pm PST #1692 of 28160
I've been tempted to read Wilkie Collins, but I'm afraid of running into the "We're British, we're here to help you poor benighted savages achieve your place in civilization as our servants, you lucky creatures" thing.There's a bit of ooo-spooky-heathens in The Moonstone, since it's about a stolen Indian gem. But not paternalism, I don't think.
The Woman In White doesn't have any of that, but it might be harder to take because for a contemporary reader, a couple of the plot twists are obvious several miles off. But it has a fantastic villain which totally makes up for that.
You do have to bear in mind that they were published as serials and there are plenty of (un)lucky coincidences. And that a large portion of The Moonstone was written while Collins was addicted to opium. I liked The Moonstone more, because I think the characters are more entertaining on reread, but they're both good fun.
Dana - Dec 15, 2006 6:26:54 pm PST #1693 of 28160
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
Plus, The Woman in White was made into an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, so you can visualize Michael Crawford in a fat suit, playing the villain. Isn't that a bonus?!?
Strega - Dec 15, 2006 6:32:28 pm PST #1694 of 28160
...Why.... why would you say such a thing?
While napping I had on an MST3K episode where Joel's invention is the "Andrew Lloyd Webber grill." You cook things on his burning scripts.
Connie Neil - Dec 15, 2006 6:33:08 pm PST #1695 of 28160
brillig
Isn't that a bonus?!?
Uh . . . sure.
Consuela - Dec 15, 2006 9:15:56 pm PST #1696 of 28160
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix
Dana, my eyes, my eyes! You suck!
The Count is by far the most interesting character in that novel.
IAmNotReallyASpring - Dec 16, 2006 12:05:47 am PST #1697 of 28160
I think Freddy Quimby should walk out of here a free hotel
Stendahl's "The Red and the Black" is a frequently overlooked book that everybody should read.
Weird. I just started that.
Gris - Dec 16, 2006 4:15:16 am PST #1698 of 28160
Hey. New board.
I have read The Moonstone, but never got past the first chapter of The Woman in White (not because it was bad, just circumstances). I quite liked The Moonstone.
i'm reading "In Cold Blood" right now. It's... not actually that great, so far. Kind of boring. "Breakfast at Tiffany's" was a significantly more fun read, to me.