The Moonstone
The first English detective novel featuring a stolen diamond, a country house mystery, and the investigation that follows its disappearance.
Listen on SWOO.About this book
The Moonstone, published in 1868, is widely considered the first and one of the best English detective novels, establishing many conventions of the genre.
The Moonstone is a large yellow diamond stolen from an Indian temple and brought to England. When it's given to Rachel Verinder on her eighteenth birthday, it mysteriously disappears overnight. The investigation that follows involves Sergeant Cuff, one of literature's first professional detectives, along with a cast of memorable characters including the opium-addicted Franklin Blake and the eccentric house steward Gabriel Betteredge.
Told through multiple narrators, Collins crafts an intricate mystery that keeps readers guessing until the end. T.S. Eliot called it "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels," and its influence on the genre cannot be overstated.
