William Wilkie Collins was an English novelist, playwright, and short story writer. Mad Monkton is a bizarre ghost story. It is said that a strain of hereditary madness blights the Monkton family, heirs to the huge domain of Wincot Abbey. Rumours in the neighbourhood are that Alfred, the youngest scion, has inherited this insanity. He is is engaged to his childhood sweetheart, Ada Elmslie. However, Alfred suddenly departs for Italy, seeking the corpse of his disreputable uncle, who is believed to have been killed in a duel.