William Wilkie Collins (1824–1889) is known throughout the world as one of the founders of the English detective story. “The Moonstone” and “The Woman in White” were written in this vein. An unsurpassed master of intrigue, he even became a co-author with his close friend Dickens, helping to build storylines full of unexpected coincidences. However, a significant place in the work of Wilkie Collins is occupied by the “Gothic novel” - a novel of horrors and secrets, family curses, fatal prophecies and insurmountable circumstances. The story “Mad Monckton” was written in this style, in which events unfold around the last representative of the ancient Monckton family.