威爾基．柯林斯，全名William Wilkie Collins（1824-1889），生於英國倫敦，12歲隨父母移居義大利，15歲返回倫敦習法律，1847年開始文學創作，並成為英國文學史上第一位偵探小說家，被譽為「英國推理小說之父」。他一生著作豐富，包括著有25部小說，50餘篇短篇小說，至少12部以上的戲劇，以及五百多篇遊記等。英國文豪查爾斯．狄更斯（Charles Dickens）為其摯友，並對他極為賞識。柯林斯最著名的代表作有《白衣女郎》（The Woman in White）（1860）、《月光石》（The Moonstone）（1868）等。
Frank Softly fell in love with the daughter of a counterfeiter -- the beautiful Alicia, Dr. Dulcifer's daughter; and before he could stop it he'd somehow gotten mixed up in the forgery himself. That was bad -- bad enough to ruin his prospects with the girl, since not even a felon like Dulcifer would want his daughter to marry a forgerer. He sent the girl away to Wales not long before the forgery ring collapsed in a series of betrayals . . . But love will endure, and where there's life, there's hope. . . .
