The Law and the Lady

Synopsis

The Law and the Lady is a detective story, published in 1875 by Wilkie Collins. It is not quite as sensational in style as The Moonstone and The Woman in White. Detective story dedicated to Regnier, attacking the Scottish Not Proven verdict.  Early example of a female sleuth.  The heroine is one of Collins's determined and resourceful women characters, who retains the initiative throughout. 

In the bizarre character of Miserrimus Dexter Collins created one of his most powerful examples of mental disturbance, here combined with physical handicap.  The novel contains several features of modern detective fiction, including the amateur succeeding where the professionals failed, a court-room cross-examination influenced by the Madeleine Smith trial, the use of an alibi, and the sequential elimination of the various suspects. 

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