Blue Leather bound with embossed 24K design and blue sil ribbon marker. ICL description insert pamphlet.

I'm taking half a star off because I don't really like the epistolary nature of the book. I find that approach somewhat lazy. But otherwise, it is a good story despite the fact that I knew who the culprit was waaaaayyyyy before the ending. The manner in which the Moonstone was stolen was ludicrous, though. (I had expected perhaps hypnotism to be involved, but although that wasn't the case, the actuality was equally ridiculous.) If I sound somewhat churlish toward Mr. Collins's literary efforts, it is probably because some fools find him to be superior to his contemporary, Charles Dickens. I find that as laughable as parts of Mr. Collins's plot. I probably would have rated the book lower, but the character of Gabriel Betteredge was a true gem. I will give credit where credit is due. ( )

Want to rate a 4.5. What a [LONG] ride! I loved Collins‘s THE WOMAN IN WHITE, and this is his other best known work. Being a friend of Dickens, Collins serialized this book, so the more he wrote, the more he got paid. It could have been whittled down quite a bit, but part of the fun in reading Victorian literature is the fact that a lot of them are chunky! I loved the characters, the rollercoaster-ride-of-a story, and all that 19th-century British stuff EXCEPT colonialism. 😊 ( )

Often considered the prototype for the English detective novel, The Moonstone fulfils all its promise and more. The plot is on the surface quite simple: a gemstone of great cultural significance disappears from a country house. Who has taken it? Why? Is there a connection with three itinerant Indian jugglers seen in the vicinity of the house? And why does the daughter of the house, in whose care the gemstone was, take so much umbrage at the investigation?

We are introduced to a wide range of characters who retell their part in the mystery. I reacted the most favourably to Gabriel Betteridge, the steward to the house; to Sergeant Cuff, the esteemed detective brought in to solve the mystery (but who is thwarted by both the deliberate and involuntary actions of others) and Ezra Jennings, a medical man with a tragic past and a dark secret. But there is also humour in the story; Betteridge and Cuff have ample reserves of wit; and another minor participant, Miss Drusilla Clack, a cousin with an obsession with evangelising and handing out religious tracts, is written in terms that stop short of caricature.

Some of the situations and plot twists may seem overtly melodramatic and perhaps a little contrived; but all clichés started out as something new, and for the detective story, this book is where many of those clichés had their birth. And the story betrays its original publication, as a serial in the London periodical All the Year Round, edited by Collins' friend Charles Dickens. There are shocking revelations at the end of certain chapters, and although there are no overt cliff-hangers, readers will see that they were not far behind.

Like Dickens, Collins shows us upper-class England in the mid-nineteenth century, and the observant reader will learn much about Victorian society, personal finance and attitudes. The mistress of the house from where the gem disappears, Lady Verinder, is depicted as an aristocrat of a particular type (perhaps to make the aristocracy seem less remote). I was reminded of the historian Edmund Wilson, who observed that there was never a working-class revolution in Britain because the managerial class knew when it was time to negotiate (and the trade unions put advancing the cause of their members before political objectives). To this, after reading The Moonstone, we could perhaps add that there was a segment of the British aristocracy that nonetheless recognised that they had obligations towards the people in their service; and those obligations went beyond the financial and the social into matters of respect. Not all of the upper class did this; but enough did to prevent socialist ideas penetrating too far into the rural working class in particular. (Nonetheless, one minor character looks forward to a time when "the poor will rise against the rich".)

It is worth noting here that modern readers will find matters here that could be troubling: racism, sexism and classism (not to mention the use of tobacco and other substances). The racism is mostly that of ignorance, and indeed there is a secondary character who has travelled widely in India and provides perspective, although how much of that is supposed to be from a genuine interest and how much is inserted to move the plot along is another matter. And given current debate about returning cultural treasures to their places of origin, the end of the book makes quite a contemporary point.

These points aside, The Moonstone was an engaging story, brought to life by some engaging characters, yet very clearly showing how our society has changed in some 170 years. ( )

Pretty good story though a bit wordy. Loved some of the characters very much! ( )