Miss Mina and the Groom' - a 'Little Novel' by Wilkie Collins

After a riding accident involving her uncle, a respected General, Mina's life takes a dark turn. A new groom with a mysterious past and unsettling talents arrives at the estate, stirring whispers of hidden secrets and dangerous motives. As Mina delves deeper into the groom's enigma, she unravels a web of intrigue that threatens to upend everything she knows.

'Little Novels' published in 1887 is a collection of fourteen short stories by Wilkie Collins. Revised by the author, these stories had appeared in various British and American periodicals over the previous 10 years, very often with different titles. They are stand-alone stories dealing with a variety of subjects: love, marriage, the supernatural, class, money, and murder; most of them contain a mystery or twist to the tale which is bound to delight fans of Collins' best-known novels, 'The Woman in White' and 'The Moonstone.'

'Miss Mina and the Groom' is the seventh story in the collection. It was originally published as 'A Shocking Story' in Barnes' International Review and the Belgravia Annual in 1878.