The Trail of the Serpent is the debut novel by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, first published in 1860 as Three Times Dead; or, The Secret of the Heath. The story concerns the schemes of the orphan Jabez North to acquire an aristocratic fortune, and the efforts of Richard Marwood, aided by his friends, to prove his innocence in the murder of his uncle. A typical sensation novel - containing violence, potential bigamy and the lunatic asylum, among other characteristic elements - it has also been hailed as the first British detective novel; many plot devices and elements such as the detective's use of...

Faint streaks of crimson glimmer here and there amid the rich darkness of the Kentish woods. Autumn's red finger has been lightly laid upon the foliage--sparingly, as the artist puts the brighter tints into his picture; but the grandeur of an August sunset blazes upon the peaceful landscape, and lights all into glory. The encircling woods and wide lawn-like meadows, the still ponds of limpid water, the trim hedges, and the smooth winding roads; undulating hill-tops, melting into the purple distance; laboring-men's cottages, gleaming white from the surrounding foliage; solitary roadside inns...