An important figure in the development of crime fiction, Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915) penned more than eighty novels, numerous plays, poems, essays, and short stories, and edited two magazines during her fifty-five year literary career. Her bestselling Lady Audley’s Secret secured her reputation as a leading
sensation novelist.
Though critics condemned her work as immoral, Braddon’s novels proved influential on the detective fiction of the late Victorian period. With entries on key figures, characters, and historical contexts in Braddon’s writing, as well as numerous illustrations, a career chronology, and a chronological and alphabetical listing of all of her works, this companion to Braddon’s mystery fiction constitutes the definitive reference on this provocative but overlooked literary luminary.