The form of No Name

1/ If you place lots of importance on the social/ political aspect of a novel, No Name is interesting in its examination of stupid inheritance laws in England in the 19th century. I didn’t know these things before reading the book. 
The more interesting part, I find, is that Wilkie Collins creates 2 sisters, Norah and Magdalene, who are very different in personality and temperament, and thereby shows 2 different paths, 2 different responses to the same situation. 

2/ This is not a new observation, but in No Name, Wilkie Collins plays with perspective nicely by switching between the 3rd person omniscient and the 1st person narrator in epistolary form. 
The book is divided into Scenes, each of which has several chapters set mainly in 1 location, told by the 3rd person omniscient narrator, then followed by several documents such as letters, journal entries…, which tell the story from the 1st person point of view.   
This is an ingenious and effective device, especially effective for a mystery and suspense book such as No Name. For example, at the end of Scene 1, when Magdalene disappears, the documents show the events from the limited perspective of the lawyer Mr Pendril and the detectives (which is also the perspective of Norah and Miss Garth), and make readers speculate about what happens, especially when they receive an anonymous letter from a man telling them to drop the pointless search. Which man can it be? Then Collins brings us to Scene 2 and goes back in time to narrate the events from the objective point of view, revealing the truth. 
My only complaint is that I feel Collins doesn’t employ the device to the full—think of the colourful Count Fosco in The Woman in White, and the fascinating Gabriel Betteredge and the unforgettable Miss Clark in The Moonstone, then look again at Captain Wragge’s journal and see how dull it is. From afar (I mean, when the story was in 3rd person), I was expecting a lot more. 
That being said, No Name is very enjoyable. Wilkie Collins is master at keeping readers hooked. 
I don’t know how readers coped with impatience when the book was originally serialised.