Wilkie Collins 
The Law and the Lady 

Three years ago, her husband stood accused of murder – and the verdict that came in from the jury was the Scottish Verdict, Not Proven. The jury had not evidence enough to convict him – nor enough to comfortably exonerate him. Eustace could not bear the weight of her discovery; he fled to the continent, to live in anonymity. But Valeria knew her husband, and she loved him. She knew he was innocent, too, with the sort of intuition that guides the lucky flawlessly. And she set out to prove it to the world. * Valeria Woodville is one of English literature’s earliest women detectives – that makes the novel historically remarkable. But it’s also a great fun mystery, full of plot and circumsance, and a rogue’s gallery of odd Dickensian characters.