Diamond News

Recommended Reads: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Published:	15 February 2022
Category:	Recommended Reads

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Diamond Crime author, Jacqueline Harrett has been re-reading The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.

I recently started rereading The Moonstoneand found myself as enthralled as I had been when I first read it many years ago. Although first published in 1868 it still keeps the reader engaged throughout. The Moonstone, essentially about the theft and retrieval of a rare and valuable diamond, was first serialised in the magazine, All the Year Round,before being published as a book.

Hailed by Sayers as “probably the finest detective story ever written” many of the elements in The Moonstone can still be found in modern detective novels. The moonstone itself is a diamond and intrigue added to the story with three Hindu priests determined to restore the stone to its proper place in the statue of the Hindu god of the moon. The diamond is cursed, adding an extra frisson of mystery to the story.

The crime, theft of the diamond, on Rachel Verinder’s 18th birthday is the inciting incident leading to the quest for its return. What follows is epistolary in structure with the use of several voices. The narrative twists and turns, aided by the testimony of the various characters. Several people have motive and opportunity to commit the crime, providing a number of suspects so it becomes a ‘whodunnit’ in every sense. This interplay between the characters and their different voices adds to the pace of the novel and the intricacies of the plot. The denouement occurs when the incompetent Superintendent Seegrave is replaced by Sergeant Cuff with his stellar reputation, who, after deliberation, unravels the puzzle. As a classic detective story but also as a masterpiece of storytelling, The Moonstone is highly recommended.