Book excerpt: Wilkie Collins was an English novelist, playwright, and short story writer. My Lady’s Money, published in 1879, is a novel that centers around a rich woman who is a victim of theft. There are a lot of possible suspects she must sort through. One of them – an honest girl Isabella. The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices tells the story of sightseeing trip to Cumberland of Charles Dickens and his friend, the rising star of literature, Wilkie Collins. Writing together, they reported their adventures for Dickens’ periodical Household Words, producing a showcase of both long-cherished and entirely novel sides of these well-loved men of letters.