The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins, is one of the first real "mystery" novels of its time. It has a bunch of the things that show up in the mystery genre - someone playing detective, a bunch of suspects, and an explanation at the end of how the crime was committed. The mystery here is the disappearance of a giant diamond that a young English woman receives as an inheritance on her 18th birthday. Is it one of her two possible suitors? A maid? A visiting doctor? Or even a group of Indians that worship the stone? The story is told from different points of view, so having different narrators as the story went along kept it interesting. Overall I really enjoyed it and was surprised how modern of a book it felt for something over 160 years old. My only minor quibble is that it is a bit longer than it really needs to be. I highly recommend it for anyone that likes nineteenth century English literature or a good mystery. A.
No comments:
Post a Comment