ABSTRACT
In 1877 Collins produced the gentry-problem novella My Lady’s Money and then a lively novella mostly set in Italy, The Haunted Hotel (1878). Stronger themes would appear in The Fallen Leaves (1879), dealing in part with Christian Socialism, and Heart and Science (1882–3), including a critique of vivisectionism. In this period Collins also redeveloped troubled romance, with German-set Jezebel’s Daughter (1880) and then The Black Robe (1881) which explored Catholicism. There followed the short family mystery I Say No (1884), the melodramatic The Evil Genius (1886), and the romance novella The Guilty River (1886). His last completed novel was the criminal puzzle The Legacy of Cain (1888): Collins died in September 1889 before completing Blind Love, a mystery and romance also dealing with contemporary Irish politics: it was finished by Walter Besant.
