The Moonstone (The Best Mysteries of All Time) - Hardcover

Collins, Wilkie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0762188731 ISBN 13: 9780762188734

Publisher: Readers Digest, 1998

Synopsis

T.S. Eliot called `The Moonstone the first and greatest English detective novel. The novel is worthy of such praise. The story begins with a brief prologue describing how the famous yellow diamond was captured during a military campaign in India by a British officer in 1799. The action moves quickly to 1848 England, where, according to the British officers will, the diamond has been given to one of the soldiers young relatives, Rachel Verinder. Yet only hours after the diamond arrives at the Verinder estate, it disappears. Was it stolen by a relative? A servant? And who are these three Indian men who keep hanging around the estate? `The Moonstone is told from the point of view of several characters. The first portion of the tale is told by Gabriel Betteredge, house steward of the Verinder estate, who has been working for the family practically his entire life. Betteredges account holds the readers interest as he introduces the main players and the crime itself. The next account, by distant Verinder relative Miss Clack, is humorous and somewhat important. But after Miss Clacks account, things really take off at breakneck speed. Readers who latch onto the T.S. Eliot quote expecting a modern detective tale will be sorely disappointed. You aren't going to see anything resembling Jeffrey Deaver, James Patterson, Sue Grafton, or even Mary Higgins Clark. You also wont see Mickey Spillane, Dashiel Hammett, or Raymond Chandler. Nor will you see Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, or Martha Grimes. You wont even see Arthur Conan Doyle. But you WILL see the novel that influenced them all. You'll also see something else. Something that modern mystery/detective writers have for the most part lost. Characters. Oh sure, modern writers have characters, but for the most part, the reader only learns enough about the character to forward the plot. In our time, plot is King.

About this title

From the Publisher:

The Broadview Literary Texts series is an effort to represent the ever-changing canon of literature in English by bringing together texts long regarded as classics with valuable, though lesser-known literature.

From the Back Cover:

The elements which make up The Moonstone- a purloined Indian jewel which carries with it a mysterious curse, a stolid British police sergeant, a drama of theft and murder in a spacious country home- have been repeated, in slightly varying guises, throughout much of the detective fiction that Wilkie Collins' immensely popular 1868 novel gave birth to.

About this edition

• Publisher: Readers Digest
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0762188731
• ISBN 13: 9780762188734
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 557