OnlineBookClub.org

Hey!!

I am a big fan of Arthur Conan Doyle and his Sherock Holmes series. Though I've wandering about the old mistery books, how they were conceived before the 19th century.

I have done my research and I've got to these two titles
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Please, if you've read one of them, tell me what you think. Also, if you know another title worth exploring, let me know

Well, Crime and Punishment is not really a mystery since the crime and the doer is known. Still a really good book though. The Woman in White was also good, but if I remember correctly it starts a bit dull, but definitely becomes a great mystery as it moves along. Another book I really liked was East Lynne by Ellen Wood. Not entirely a mystery, but has a good sub-plot with one. Besides that the only other book that comes to mind is Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe. If you can get through the first hundred pages it gets very interesting.

I had a difficult time with the Woman in White. I wasn't able to finish it. There is something about the author's writing I found dull and I was unable to get into it. Crime and Punishment I have read to completion and loved. Like the previous commenter said, it's not a traditional mystery because the story is told through the eyes of the murderer, Raskolnikov. The reader knows from the beginning he did it. It is a very interesting book. If you are interested in classic Russian literature, I recommend all of Dostoyevsky's work.

If you're into mystery I wouldn't suggest Crime and Punishment, although it's worth reading.

I loved The Women in White - it's supposed to be the first "Whodunit" I think. It's a long book but beautifully written and very suspenseful.

Steph K wrote: ↑02 May 2017, 14:49 Crime and Punishment I have read to completion and loved. Like the previous commenter said, it's not a traditional mystery because the story is told through the eyes of the murderer, Raskolnikov. The reader knows from the beginning he did it. It is a very interesting book. If you are interested in classic Russian literature, I recommend all of Dostoyevsky's work.

This is definitely not a crime story. This is the story of a guy who committed a double murder, and then admitted his crime. This is a psychological and philosophical prose, a book about bad conscience and regret.

I haven't read Woman in White, but I loved Crime and Punishment. It's less of a detective novel, though, as everyone has said, though that shouldn't stop you from reading!

So, by now, I hope you know where you stand with Wilkie Collins and Dostoyevsky.)
Strangely enough no one mentioned Poe's Auguste Dupin as he was an inspiration for Holmes, Christie's Poirot AND a detective from "Crime and Punishment". Dupin is featured in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (which actually is the first modern detective story) and a couple of other stories.
Another famous character, a prototype for Holmes was Émile Gaboriau's Monsieur Lecoq, but I've never read him, so I can't say much about him.

I haven't read "Crime and Punishment" yet. But I thoroughly enjoyed "The Woman in White."