Published by Dover Thrift Editions and reviewed by my dad
Wilkie Collins (1824 – 1889) was an English novelist and playwright whose bicentenary birth anniversary falls this year. His novel, ‘The Moonstone’, is the first long-form detective novel published in England in 1868. Many such novels of the period including ‘The Woman in White’ and ‘Armadale’, and other works of his friend, Charles Dickens, were characterized as ‘novels of suspense’, which later developed into the genre of detective fiction.
(Text continued after image)
Book Cover
The moonstone is a diamond stolen from a Hindu temple in India by a British colonel during the Anglo-Mysore War in 1799, and taken to England, where its theft precipitated a police inquiry. The story, told by several of the participants, gives insights into their characters and perspectives, even as it advances the plot. The plot twists and turns to a satisfactory ending. It is a work of historical significance depicting the nature of the British Empire, its class differences, crimes, and their consequences. This mystery classic continues to fascinate the reader to this day.
