The fallen leaves

"The Fallen Leaves" is a British garage rock group that formed in Richmond, London in 2004. Their most commercially successful release was 2013's "If Only We'd Known" with their top hit being "Against the Grain" according to Spotify. And why this "American Psycho"-esque music monologue in the middle of a Wilkie Collins book description you might ask? Because this novel's protagonist, Amelius Goldenheart, might just be the original flamboyant lady killer (although only figuratively) and solicitor of prostitutes in Western Literature. Exiled from his Utopian community due to an illicit affair with an older woman, Amelius comes to London to enlist in the service of John Farnaby, a man of ill repute. He is immediately captivated by his employer's niece and soon our hero finds himself entangled in his new family's dark history. And if you thought Gilderoy Lockhear- sorry, Amelius Goldenheart, is one to turn a blind eye to misfortune and injustice, well, you are encouraged to read his ridiculous name again. A follow-up to this story titled "Second Series" was planned but ultimately never written. Novelist, playwright, genre pioneer, opium addict, mentee of Charles Dickens, magnificently bearded individual - dead Englishman Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) has many titles to his name. Having a knack for mystery and unconventional characters, Collins' biggest contribution to world literature comes in the forms of "A Women in White" (1859) and "The Moonstone" (1868), with the former being mentioned on his headstone while the latter is widely considered the first modern detective novel.