Which type of fiction influenced Thomas Hardy’s Desperate Remedies?

Thomas Hardy’s first published novel, Desperate Remedies (1871), was influenced by the contemporary sensation novel of Wilkie Collins.1

The sensation novel was a subgenre that emerged in the 1860s and is characterized by its focus on suspense, mystery, and dramatic, often scandalous, plot developments. Hardy turned to this style after his earlier, more opinionated manuscript, The Poor Man and the Lady, failed to find a publisher and he was advised by George Meredith to write a more "shapely" novel.21