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In The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins tells the story of a woman wrongfully locked away in an insane asylum. This 1860 thriller includes a ghostly woman, a secret society, switched identities, foreign agents, paranoia, bribery, blackmail, and conspiracies. What’s not to love?

1.    Wilkie Collins has been called the creator of the sensation novel. The Woman in White includes a ghostly woman, switched identities, forged documents, bribery, drugging, spying, foreign agents, blackmail, lies, and conspiracies. What feels familiar about sensation novels? In what ways is the book a detective story?

2.    In his preface to the 1860 edition, Collins wrote, “An experiment is attempted in this novel, which has not (so far as I know) been hitherto tried in fiction.” The story is told by the book’s characters. How did you feel about these diverse first-person narratives? What qualities does each narrator bring to the story? And how does everyone remember every minute detail of every conversation?

3.    How do Frederick Fairlie, Sir Percival, Count Fosco, and Hartright each represent distinct styles of masculinity? Did these four men feel real to you?

4.    How much power do women have in The Woman in White? In what ways are the women characters ideals of Victorian womanhood? Why do Hartright and Marian lie to Laura about their investigation? Why don’t Laura and Anne ever get to tell their own stories?)

5.    Laura and Anne end up switching places, which is one of the book’s biggest plot points. What’s the deal with these asylums? Details, please! And how did you feel once Laura’s identity was restored?

6.    When Hartright returns from Honduras, he fights to restore Laura’s identity, applying tactics he used “against suspected treachery in the wilds of Central America” in the “heart of civilised London.” How has he changed since the first time we met him? Why does he work outside society’s laws and conventions?

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In Bleak House, Charles Dickens’s tenacious criminal investigator, Inspector Bucket, is a London police detective who investigates a murder. Inspector Bucket and Poe’s amateur detective Auguste Dupin were the first professional criminal investigators in English literature.

This is part two of a two part series, and covers chapter 32 to the end of the book. 

1. Birthright: In Chapter 35, Esther says it’s “not the custom in England to confer titles on men unless they consisted of the accumulation of some very large amount of money.” Miss Flite thinks Allan Woodcourt should receive a title for saving people after his boat is shipwrecked. Esther agrees he deserves it but says he won’t get it.

So let’s talk about privilege and birthright. “Privilege” might be defined as an advantage in life not enjoyed by all. “Birthright” might be defined as one’s rights from birth onward due to one’s inheritance—rights essentially conferred through an accident of birth. Bleak House is in many ways a story about birthrights. What are Jo’s, Charley’s, and Esther’s birthrights? What are the birthrights of Ada and Richard? What’s YOURS?

2. The Many Forms of Neglect and Charity. Mrs. Jellyby neglects her family while she corresponds about far-off Africa. Mrs. Pardiggle brings her family with her everywhere and takes their money to support her efforts closer to home, going about lecturing the poor. Mr. Skimpole’s object of charity is himself. He neglects his family while thinking everyone should support his being “free.” Mr. Turveydrop considers his deportment a gift to family and society. He’s an object of charity, as he contributes nothing, working his wife and son into illness so he can live in the way he pleases. Sir Leicester Dedlock considers hiring Rosa as Lady Dedlock’s servant to be a form of charity and patronage, as does Rosa herself. Yet Mr. Rouncewell finds this patronage insufficient for the wife of his son, and he proposes that she be sent to Europe to finish her education. Thoughts?

3. Mrs. Bagnet is “that rare sort of old girl that she receives Good to her arms without a hint that it might be Better; and catches light from any little spot of darkness near her.” Do you know people like Mrs. Bagnet? Are you yourself like Mrs. Bagnet?

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It’s big, so start reading now. (Don’t fret – we’ll spend two months on this 1853 masterpiece.) Dickens addresses class and lineage, law vs. justice, social responsibility, guilt, and identity. And Inspector Bucket, the first important police detective in English literature, investigates a murder.

In Bleak House, Charles Dickens’s tenacious criminal investigator, Inspector Bucket, is a London police detective who investigates a murder. Inspector Bucket and Poe’s amateur detective Auguste Dupin were the first professional criminal investigators in English literature.

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Edgar Allan Poe called “The Purloined Letter” “perhaps the best of my tales of ratiocination.” The story, published in 1844, is an excellent mystery, minus the Gothic horror of “Rue Morgue.” Together, Poe’s stories form the foundation of the mystery novel as we know it.

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Tea, Tonic, and Toxin is a book club and podcast for people who love mysteries, thrillers, introspection, and good conversation. Each month, your hosts, Carolyn Daughters and Sarah Harrison, will discuss a game-changing mystery or thriller, starting in 1841 onward. Together, we’ll see firsthand how the genre evolved

Along the way, we’ll entertain ideas, prospects, theories, doubts, and grudges, along with the occasional guest. And we hope to entertain you, dear friend. We want you to experience the joys of reading some of the best mysteries and thrillers ever written.

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Edgar Allan Poe is the master of mysteries and thrillers, and some consider “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” published in 1841, to be the first detective story. Set in Paris, the story features amateur detective Auguste Dupin, along with his trusty sidekick who narrates the gruesome tale. 

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