Wilkie Collins (1824–1889) is an English novelist best known for his two novels: The Lady in White and Moonstone. Both novels are credited with establishing the ground rules of modern Detective Stories. For aficionados of Detective Fiction, like me, both are essential reading.

While Lady in White and Moonstone are very long novels, “Who Killed Zebedee?” is a brief short story. It begins when the narrator, who is a Roman Catholic, feels compelled to make a confession about his involvement in a long, unsolved murder case from his time as a young police constable in London. His “confession” becomes the story.

As is always the case with a Mystery short story, saying much more about the plot is to risk giving too much away. Suffice it to say that in this little story Wilkie gives us, his readers, a few early archetypes that have become essential in Modern Detective Fiction. Including my favorite, the femme fatale.

I highly recommend both Collins and this story.