- 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.
- The CBS Radio Mystery Theater adapted Collins' story "Brother Griffith's Story of Mad Monkton", written in 1855, into an episode, airing February 28, 1979 and entitled "Shadows from the Grave", starring Fred Gwynne.
- Began his literary career with a biography of his father in 1848.
- Godson of David Wilkie.
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