Sherlock Holmes's Precursors: Eccentrics, Amateur Sleuths and Oriental Mysteries in Wilkie Collins

This chapter explores Collins's narratives and particularly "The Moonstone" to find early traces of the characterisation and detective-plot construction that would mark the distinction of Conan Doyle's famous sleuth. As Graham Greene suggested, one of the sub-plots of "The Sign of Four" is far too similar to "The Moonstone" for comfort. It seems that Conan Doyle knew Collins's work and he certainly drew inspiration from the nascent detective form he created. The chapter traces significant elements in Collins's work validating this indebtedness, and to determine how Conan Doyle reworked them into a new figure and new plots of detection.