Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Wildside Press (2003), Paperback, 348 pages
Description
Classic Literature. Fiction. Mystery. HTML: In addition to his reputation as one of the important early innovators in the genre of detective fiction, Wilkie Collins is recognized as being one of the first writers to feature female sleuths in his stories. In The Law and the Lady, Collins' heroine succeeds in cracking a tough case that has left professional investigators stumped..
User reviews
LibraryThing member thornton37814
Valeria marries a man who is not quite what he seems. She soon discovers that his name is not what she had presumed it to be and wonders if her marriage is valid in such a circumstance. She sets out to discover his real identity and why he is hiding behind another name and then attempts to clear
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his name. The story kept me interested, although I'm not certain that Valeria's person has a ring of truth about her. Her loyalty to her new husband under such circumstances is completely unexpected. At the same time, her husband's actions and reactions are not what I would expect. Probably the most interesting character in the book is the "madman" Miserrimus Dexter. Where in the world did Collins come up with such a name? Ariel, who blindly follows her master Miserrimus Dexiter, is also interesting. The story itself is about a 3.5, but the characters add such richness that it is worth a 4 star rating. Show Less
LibraryThing member cbl_tn
Shortly after a whirlwind courtship and marriage, Valeria Woodville discovers that her husband has a secret that threatens their future together. Valeria is determined to get to the truth. Over objections from both her husband's and her own family and friends, Valeria undertakes a task that has
This isn't the best Collins novel I've read, but it will be one of the most memorable, thanks to characters like womanizer Major FitzDavid, the eccentric Miserrimus Dexter, and Dexter's faithful servant Ariel. Some of the issues raised in the novel are still of interest to contemporary readers, including disability issues, gender roles in marriage, and Darwin's evolutionary theory. In some ways, Collins was ahead of his time. If you're new to Wilkie Collins, this isn't the book to start with. First read The Moonstone and The Woman in White, then move on to his lesser-known works like this one.
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defeated men of greater age and experience.This isn't the best Collins novel I've read, but it will be one of the most memorable, thanks to characters like womanizer Major FitzDavid, the eccentric Miserrimus Dexter, and Dexter's faithful servant Ariel. Some of the issues raised in the novel are still of interest to contemporary readers, including disability issues, gender roles in marriage, and Darwin's evolutionary theory. In some ways, Collins was ahead of his time. If you're new to Wilkie Collins, this isn't the book to start with. First read The Moonstone and The Woman in White, then move on to his lesser-known works like this one.
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LibraryThing member StoutHearted
This novel would be tedious if not for the interesting side characters that seem almost shocking for the time in which it was written. The main character herself, Valeria, is a tad one-sided with her determined devotion to clear her husband's name no matter what. But we see her defy all conventions
Valeria's conundrum begins when she discovers her husband's deep, dark secret: He was once married before, and put on trial for the murder of his wife. The trial taking place in Scotland, her husband managed to be released under the stigma of the "not proven" verdict. While her husband runs away in agony over Valeria discovering his secret, the devoted wife soldiers on and is determined to uncover the truth about what happened to the first Mrs. McCallan so that she may clear her husband's name.
It is easy to overlook the bravery and determination forged by Valeria when she is so blindly devoted to such an undeserving man as her husband. Her character does cry out for more depth, but this is compensated in part by the wildness of some of the other characters. Dexter is such a character that is not soon to be forgotten after his introduction, where he is racing wildly in circles around the room in his wheelchair, shouting nonsense. He is gothic and haunting, from the vivid descriptions of his macabre artwork, to the creepy way he hops about on his hands. Described as both man and monster, he never stands a chance for normalcy in his society, or in the novel. I don't think I've ever read a character quite like him.
While not a stellar example of Collins's writing, it is a worthwhile read, especially for the fascinating characters.
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and friendly advice to do so, which is no small potatoes. Yet she is easily upstaged by the more flamboyant characters she runs into: Major Fitz-David, who with his charm and unabashed flirtations takes up all the space in whatever room he's in, and more so by Missimerimus Dexter, a sentimental, half-mad, legless man who is accompanied by his devoted but witless cousin/servant Ariel. The descriptions of the last two are often unkind, and they are immediately set apart as Others in the novel's world.Valeria's conundrum begins when she discovers her husband's deep, dark secret: He was once married before, and put on trial for the murder of his wife. The trial taking place in Scotland, her husband managed to be released under the stigma of the "not proven" verdict. While her husband runs away in agony over Valeria discovering his secret, the devoted wife soldiers on and is determined to uncover the truth about what happened to the first Mrs. McCallan so that she may clear her husband's name.
It is easy to overlook the bravery and determination forged by Valeria when she is so blindly devoted to such an undeserving man as her husband. Her character does cry out for more depth, but this is compensated in part by the wildness of some of the other characters. Dexter is such a character that is not soon to be forgotten after his introduction, where he is racing wildly in circles around the room in his wheelchair, shouting nonsense. He is gothic and haunting, from the vivid descriptions of his macabre artwork, to the creepy way he hops about on his hands. Described as both man and monster, he never stands a chance for normalcy in his society, or in the novel. I don't think I've ever read a character quite like him.
While not a stellar example of Collins's writing, it is a worthwhile read, especially for the fascinating characters.
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LibraryThing member Harrietbright
A joy to read. Wonderful classic writing. Every word had its important place. Loved the storyline and found the characters fascinating.
LibraryThing member MariaAlhambra
A delightftul Wilkie Collins mystery. It mingles the classical fairy tale motif of Bluebeard and the narrative schemes of detective fiction (hidden clues, reconstructed fragments) with Collins' usual adept characterization. There is a corageous, unsentimental heroine and a great gallery of
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eccentrics, of which the best is the disabled mad poet/genius Miserrimus Dexter. The resolution subverts the melodramatic crescendo of the the story and offers a realistic and melancholic conclusion to the mystery. Show Less
LibraryThing member thorold
Wilkie Collins is known as one of the inventors of the modern detective-story, and before this I'd only ever read his two most famous books, The Moonstone (1868) and The woman in white (1859).
The law and the lady pushes the detective story into new territory, by creating a situation in which an
However, interesting as though all that is, it's undermined by the complex manoeuvres Collins deems necessary to justify the use of a female investigator. There's a whole, rather ridiculous Bluebeard's Castle story to get through — "As long as you don't try to find out what my Dark Secret is, we can have a happy marriage" — before we even find out about the real mystery Valeria will have to solve. Also, like Harriet Vane, Valeria always has a man in the background to do the heavy thinking for her. Her role seems to be more to run around prodding people into activity. Although Collins was by no means a conventional man in his own life, he does seem to put a lot of very conventional Victorian (male) ideas about women into his portrait of Valeria, and she's ultimately not all that convincing.
Moreover, Collins obviously became too fond of his eccentric, wheelchair-bound misanthrope Miserrimus Dexter, and we spend far too much of the second part of the book being shown what an extraordinary creature he is, without any of it advancing the story very much. This is fun for a while, but it soon turns into a kind of freak-show.
Interesting, certainly, but ultimately not all that successful either as a novel or as a detective story.
The law and the lady pushes the detective story into new territory, by creating a situation in which an
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enterprising young woman finds herself investigating a murder mystery. It is probably also one of the first crime stories in which the main physical clue is obtained as a result of forensic archaeology (the investigators even set up a tent over their work-site, in the best traditions of TV detectives...). To recommend it even further to the modern reader, one of the main witnesses is a disabled person, and there is a minor (but quite visible) character who seems to be either Trans or Intersex in modern terms. And another character who goes off to do relief work on the fringes of the Spanish Civil War (no, not that Spanish Civil War, one of the other ones).However, interesting as though all that is, it's undermined by the complex manoeuvres Collins deems necessary to justify the use of a female investigator. There's a whole, rather ridiculous Bluebeard's Castle story to get through — "As long as you don't try to find out what my Dark Secret is, we can have a happy marriage" — before we even find out about the real mystery Valeria will have to solve. Also, like Harriet Vane, Valeria always has a man in the background to do the heavy thinking for her. Her role seems to be more to run around prodding people into activity. Although Collins was by no means a conventional man in his own life, he does seem to put a lot of very conventional Victorian (male) ideas about women into his portrait of Valeria, and she's ultimately not all that convincing.
Moreover, Collins obviously became too fond of his eccentric, wheelchair-bound misanthrope Miserrimus Dexter, and we spend far too much of the second part of the book being shown what an extraordinary creature he is, without any of it advancing the story very much. This is fun for a while, but it soon turns into a kind of freak-show.
Interesting, certainly, but ultimately not all that successful either as a novel or as a detective story.
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LibraryThing member japaul22
[The Law and the Lady] by [[Wilkie Collins]]
I picked up this novel because it was chosen as a quarter 2 group read for our Victorian theme in Club Read. I loved [The Woman in White] and [The Moonstone] but had never branched out to Collins's lesser known works. I found [The Law and the Lady] an
If I give too much plot description, it will be very spoiler-y and this novel is very plot driven. I don't think the actual mystery was much of one, but this book does get credit as possibly the first novel where a woman does most of the detective work. I was a little disappointed that she doesn't really follow through to the end - leaving the pivotal last investigations to the men to solve.
This novel centers around two characters that will give modern readers pause. One is a crippled man, Misserimus Dexter, in a wheel chair who is, at times, treated as almost a circus act - racing around rooms on his hands only and horrifying those who get a glimpse of his entire body. And his "sidekick" is a woman, Ariel, described sometimes as a man in appearance who has some sort of developmental disability. I actually wondered if she was based on early knowledge of those with Downs' Syndrome based on how her physical attributes were described and on her mental state plus her extreme loyalty to Misserimus.
I found this an "entertaining enough" novel but I wouldn't widely recommend it. If you haven't read Wilkie Collins, this is not the place to start in my opinion.
Original publication date: 1875
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 413 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: group read
I picked up this novel because it was chosen as a quarter 2 group read for our Victorian theme in Club Read. I loved [The Woman in White] and [The Moonstone] but had never branched out to Collins's lesser known works. I found [The Law and the Lady] an
Show More
entertaining novel, about a woman who's mysterious marriage leads her to detective work to clear her husband's name. If I give too much plot description, it will be very spoiler-y and this novel is very plot driven. I don't think the actual mystery was much of one, but this book does get credit as possibly the first novel where a woman does most of the detective work. I was a little disappointed that she doesn't really follow through to the end - leaving the pivotal last investigations to the men to solve.
This novel centers around two characters that will give modern readers pause. One is a crippled man, Misserimus Dexter, in a wheel chair who is, at times, treated as almost a circus act - racing around rooms on his hands only and horrifying those who get a glimpse of his entire body. And his "sidekick" is a woman, Ariel, described sometimes as a man in appearance who has some sort of developmental disability. I actually wondered if she was based on early knowledge of those with Downs' Syndrome based on how her physical attributes were described and on her mental state plus her extreme loyalty to Misserimus.
I found this an "entertaining enough" novel but I wouldn't widely recommend it. If you haven't read Wilkie Collins, this is not the place to start in my opinion.
Original publication date: 1875
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 413 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: group read
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LibraryThing member AnnieMod
The later Collins novels are less successful than his 1860s ones. Not commercially - he was very well paid in those days - but the novels lost the sharpness that makes Moonstone or Woman in White really great novels. On the other hand, he used his almost independence (everyone wanted his work so he
If you are expecting a realistic novel, you probably won't like some parts of this novel. Not that anything supernatural happens - but the novel plays with the Gothic very strongly (with not just one but two houses that will fit into the genre) and with the Dexter/Ariel relationship (although in places this leaves even the Gothic and goes straight into horror - even more than Shakespeare's Prospero/Ariel - if anything the the treatment of Ariel here is a mix between these of Ariel and Caliban in the play, with the gender flipped into female). That change of gender is there in the whole novel although it is a lot less obvious that with Dexter/Ariel a lot of the characters exhibit some characteristics that go against the accepted gender roles in these days - Valeria wants to investigate while her husbands runs away, Benjamin is meek and submissive, the Major, albeit being a Don Juan, is a gossiping busybody. And yet, outside of the grotesque of the Dexter household, the non-usual behavior is just pushing at the norms, without flipping them completely. On the other hand the disability differences (mental vs physical until it turns out that it is both on both sides) are so exaggerated that I was not sure if Collins was trying for a parody or for horror or for something in between.
When a novel starts with a woman promising to submit to her new husband and then have her disobey him within the week, you really have no idea what to expect. But then Valeria really cannot stand not learning the truth - even if it cost her everything. She needs to know what secret Eustace keeps and why he used an assumed name - or her happiness is not worth it. Considering the socio-economic status of everyone involved in the novel, there are conceivable only three reasons for Eustace's behavior: craziness in the male line, a suspect death or illegitimacy. Early in the novel any of these can fit.
The publishing in the Victorian era was pretty rigid - most new novels were coming out as three volumes edition and all novels had to fit the format (that was changing but not fast enough for Collins's work). While I was reading this one I was wondering if he would not have cut a lot of the superfluous material if he had a chance. Despite being originally serialized in The Graphic, it still conforms to the 3-volumes format - in the first Valeria learns that there is a secret, in the second she learns all about the secret and in the third the truth comes out. The weakest part is the second volume - while I enjoyed the reading of the court recordings (through the eyes of Valeria), the whole Dexter story was bizarre (even if one expected the Gothic undertones and nothing earlier in the book was pointing to them).
Collins chose to write the story as if told by an older Valeria. Someone else may have been able to pull it off but here Valeria is more of an ideal than a woman and she just does not feel real very often - things happen, we are invested into the story but Valeria feels more like a narrator than a participant. It does add a level of unreliable narration which pays off in places but writing women's voices is not one of the Collins's strengths here. It did make me wonder if what seems like a pushing of the gender roles in society is not a part of that weird writing of Valeria though - did her memories enhanced some of it?
Despite it being a very uneven novel (the middle is barely readable in places), I ended up liking it quite a lot. It is important for the evolution of the detective genre because it contains one of the first women detectives. But important and likeable are not synonyms and looking at it from that perspective actually makes the novel less of what it is. It is the mix of the Gothic and the detective fiction that makes this one enjoyable (if you like both genres anyway - I suspect fans of only one of those genres may really dislike it). Throw in some legal drama (checking some notes and/or commentaries on Scottish law when the topic arises is useful in understanding what the whole fuss is about in places) and it gets things even more confused. The mix is not perfect and it often leaves one wondering what was Collins trying to do but when the parts click together, it works well enough.
I also wonder if the end was not done in that way to appease the readers. On one hand it looks like a betrayal - the independent woman decides to submit. But if you look at the story, she never meant to be independent and at that point that was the logical thing for her to do. As much as Valeria ended up being a detective (of a type) and an independent woman, she never stopped wanting to be a wife. And in her world, reconciling the two was not easy, especially when your husband is Eustace Macallan (the less we say about him, the better).
If you had never read Collins, don't start here. But if you had read his major novels, this one may be worth checking - despite its issues.
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could write almost anything) to experiment - with varying success. If you are expecting a realistic novel, you probably won't like some parts of this novel. Not that anything supernatural happens - but the novel plays with the Gothic very strongly (with not just one but two houses that will fit into the genre) and with the Dexter/Ariel relationship (although in places this leaves even the Gothic and goes straight into horror - even more than Shakespeare's Prospero/Ariel - if anything the the treatment of Ariel here is a mix between these of Ariel and Caliban in the play, with the gender flipped into female). That change of gender is there in the whole novel although it is a lot less obvious that with Dexter/Ariel a lot of the characters exhibit some characteristics that go against the accepted gender roles in these days - Valeria wants to investigate while her husbands runs away, Benjamin is meek and submissive, the Major, albeit being a Don Juan, is a gossiping busybody. And yet, outside of the grotesque of the Dexter household, the non-usual behavior is just pushing at the norms, without flipping them completely. On the other hand the disability differences (mental vs physical until it turns out that it is both on both sides) are so exaggerated that I was not sure if Collins was trying for a parody or for horror or for something in between.
When a novel starts with a woman promising to submit to her new husband and then have her disobey him within the week, you really have no idea what to expect. But then Valeria really cannot stand not learning the truth - even if it cost her everything. She needs to know what secret Eustace keeps and why he used an assumed name - or her happiness is not worth it. Considering the socio-economic status of everyone involved in the novel, there are conceivable only three reasons for Eustace's behavior: craziness in the male line, a suspect death or illegitimacy. Early in the novel any of these can fit.
The publishing in the Victorian era was pretty rigid - most new novels were coming out as three volumes edition and all novels had to fit the format (that was changing but not fast enough for Collins's work). While I was reading this one I was wondering if he would not have cut a lot of the superfluous material if he had a chance. Despite being originally serialized in The Graphic, it still conforms to the 3-volumes format - in the first Valeria learns that there is a secret, in the second she learns all about the secret and in the third the truth comes out. The weakest part is the second volume - while I enjoyed the reading of the court recordings (through the eyes of Valeria), the whole Dexter story was bizarre (even if one expected the Gothic undertones and nothing earlier in the book was pointing to them).
Collins chose to write the story as if told by an older Valeria. Someone else may have been able to pull it off but here Valeria is more of an ideal than a woman and she just does not feel real very often - things happen, we are invested into the story but Valeria feels more like a narrator than a participant. It does add a level of unreliable narration which pays off in places but writing women's voices is not one of the Collins's strengths here. It did make me wonder if what seems like a pushing of the gender roles in society is not a part of that weird writing of Valeria though - did her memories enhanced some of it?
Despite it being a very uneven novel (the middle is barely readable in places), I ended up liking it quite a lot. It is important for the evolution of the detective genre because it contains one of the first women detectives. But important and likeable are not synonyms and looking at it from that perspective actually makes the novel less of what it is. It is the mix of the Gothic and the detective fiction that makes this one enjoyable (if you like both genres anyway - I suspect fans of only one of those genres may really dislike it). Throw in some legal drama (checking some notes and/or commentaries on Scottish law when the topic arises is useful in understanding what the whole fuss is about in places) and it gets things even more confused. The mix is not perfect and it often leaves one wondering what was Collins trying to do but when the parts click together, it works well enough.
I also wonder if the end was not done in that way to appease the readers. On one hand it looks like a betrayal - the independent woman decides to submit. But if you look at the story, she never meant to be independent and at that point that was the logical thing for her to do. As much as Valeria ended up being a detective (of a type) and an independent woman, she never stopped wanting to be a wife. And in her world, reconciling the two was not easy, especially when your husband is Eustace Macallan (the less we say about him, the better).
If you had never read Collins, don't start here. But if you had read his major novels, this one may be worth checking - despite its issues.
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LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
After a brief romance and courtship, Valeria and Eustace Woodville are married. Soon after their marriage, Valeria learns that her husband's name is not really Eustace Woodville, and that he has been lying to her about other things as well. When she learns that Eustace was tried for the murder of
I quite enjoyed the other two books by Wilkie Collins I have read, his more famous The Moonstone and The Woman in White. While this was of interest as perhaps featuring the earliest female sleuth in crime fiction, this one never really grabbed me. I suspect this is due more to my state of mind at the time I read this than to the book itself.
As a needleworker myself, I enjoyed this quote:
"'women,' he said, 'wisely compose their minds, and help themselves to think quietly, by doing needlework. Why are men such fools as to deny themselves the same admirable resource--the simple soothing occupation which keeps the nerves steady and leaves the mind calm and free?'"
I so agree.
3 stars
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his first wife, and at trial received the unique Scottish verdict of "not proven" (so that he was neither found to be guilty or innocent), she decides to prove his innocence.I quite enjoyed the other two books by Wilkie Collins I have read, his more famous The Moonstone and The Woman in White. While this was of interest as perhaps featuring the earliest female sleuth in crime fiction, this one never really grabbed me. I suspect this is due more to my state of mind at the time I read this than to the book itself.
As a needleworker myself, I enjoyed this quote:
"'women,' he said, 'wisely compose their minds, and help themselves to think quietly, by doing needlework. Why are men such fools as to deny themselves the same admirable resource--the simple soothing occupation which keeps the nerves steady and leaves the mind calm and free?'"
I so agree.
3 stars
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Subjects
Original publication date
1874 - 1875 (serialized in The Graphic)
1875 (Chatto & Windus)
Physical description
348 p.; 5.98 inches
ISBN
1592244068 / 9781592244065