William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 – 23 September 1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and author of short stories. He was very popular during the Victorian era

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 and wrote 30 novels, more than 60 short stories, 14 plays, and over 100 non-fiction pieces. His best-known works are The Woman in White

The Woman in White (novel)

The Woman in White is an epistolary novel written by Wilkie Collins in 1859, serialized in 1859–1860, and first published in book form in 1860...

, The Moonstone

The Moonstone

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins is a 19th-century British epistolary novel, generally considered the first detective novel in the English language. The story was originally serialized in Charles Dickens' magazine All the Year Round. The Moonstone and The Woman in White are considered Wilkie...

, Armadale

Armadale (novel)

Armadale is a mystery novel by Wilkie Collins.-Plot summary:The novel has a convoluted plot about two distant cousins both named Allan Armadale. The father of one had murdered the father of the other...

and No Name

No Name (novel)

No Name by Wilkie Collins is a 19th-century novel revolving around the issue of illegitimacy. It was originally serialized in Charles Dickens's magazine All the Year Round before book publication.-Plot summary:...

.

Collins predicted the deterrence concept of mutually assured destruction that defined the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

 nuclear era.