His father was a well-known landscape painter, William Collins
(1788-1847), and the younger Collins painted well enough to be
exhibited at the Royal Academy.
The first writer of mystery novels in English.
A friend of Charles Dickens and they are thought to have influenced each
others' work.
Trained in law. His writings were noted for skillful and complex plotting.
With his novel "The Moonstone" was said to have invented the modern detective novel.