What makes this novel so great is the techniques Collins employs to make it so. An incompetent officer, Detective Seegrave is employed, before being fired and this is when they bring in “the big boys”, with Sergeant Cuff, the “best detective in England”.
There are a large number of suspects, each with large motives for acting out the crime. It has a mysterious crime, not in the shape of a murder, but of a theft. But is it really the Indians attempting to claim back something that originally belonged to them, or is it someone a bit closer to home who steals the £20,000 diamond (around £2 million in today’s standards).Ĭollins definitely adheres to the ‘rules’ of detective fiction, although he was the first one to set such rules, with the Moonstone being one of the first of its kind.
When some suspicious Indians appear at the house, the diamond goes missing the next night. The novel is told from Gabriel Betteredge’s point of a view, the head steward of the country house. Rachel has been left the Moonstone, an extremely valuable jewel, following the death of her uncle (her mother’s brother). A reclusive and dishonourable man, he leaves the diamond to Rachel in a seemingly vengeful attempt to bring bad luck to Lady Verinder, who banished him from her family years before. The Moonstone follows life in a country home in Yorkshire and in particular Rachel Verinder, her mother and their servants. Collins, following the obvious success of his novel, adapted it for the stage, but it only ran for around two months, proving to be not as successful as the book. After this, it was published in three hardback volumes on 16th July 1868, before the final installations had been released as a serial. The Moonstone was originally serialised by Charles Dickens in his magazine All the Year Round, between the 4th of January and the 8th of August 1868.
The Guardian have listed it at number 19 out of ‘The 100 Best Novels’ stating that it is said to be the “godfather of the classic English detective story”. The Moonstone is such an important classic text that everyone should read.
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