British author Wilkie Collins turns up on many “best” lists for his fantastic mystery novels of the 19th century. He was among those who pioneered the detective genre. I consider “Woman in White,” published in 1859, to have one of the best villains in fiction. Count Fosco is compelling and complicated, the opposite of a flat character. The novel has a wonderful, deft hand at multiple points of view. “Woman in White” is considered Collins’ best work, but “The Moonstone,” is also fine.
Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now 