The Moonstone: A Novel

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Description

The Moonstone is one of the most famous suspense novels of all time: a masterpiece of construction and the ultimate page-turner, it introduced one of the worlds most beloved genres, the detective story.

At a party celebrating her eighteenth birthday, Rachel Verinder wears the stunning yellow diamond she unexpectedly inherited from her uncle, Colonel John Herncastle.

She is not aware that the precious gem, known as the Moonstone, has been missing since it was plundered from a sacred Hindu shrine in southern India where her uncle had served with the British army fifty years ago.

But someone knows the secret of the Moonstone and will go to desperate measures to retrieve it. When it goes missing later that night, suspicions are raised and accusations fly. Could it be a trio of mysterious Indian jugglers seen near the house Or a love-struck housemaid suddenly behaving strangely And there is Rachel herself, who becomes furious when her paramour, Franklin Blake, directs attempts to find it.

As divergent accounts reveal more details, the diamonds recovery is complicated by unexpected twists and turns. Sifting through a compelling list of suspects, the indomitable Sergeant Cuff must find the truth about the Moonstone and its mysterious disappearance.

The Moonstone features 66 black and-white woodcut illustrations throughout.

Reviews

"The first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels in a genre invented by Collins and not by Poe." -- T.S. Eliot, author of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock "Probably the very finest detective story ever written." -- Dorothy L. Sayers "Probably the best detective tale in the world." -- G. K. Chesterton, author of The Victorian Age in Literature

Author Bio

William Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and author of short stories. He wrote 30 novels, more than 60 short stories, 14 plays, and more than 100 essays. His best-known works are The Woman in White and The Moonstone.