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The Moonstone

by Wilkie Collins, James Langton (Narrator)

3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 · rating details · 23,171 ratings · 1,714 reviews

Called "the first and greatest of English detective novels" by T. S. Eliot, Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone is a masterpiece of suspense. A fabulous yellow diamond becomes the dangerous inheritance of Rachel Verinder. Outside her Yorkshire country house watch the Hindu priests who have waited for many years to reclaim their ancient talisman, looted from the holy city of Som...more

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Published November 2nd 2010 by Tantor Media (first published 1868)

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Apr 30, 2012 Jeffrey Keeten rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Moonstone was published in 1868 and is considered by most people to be the first detective novel. Given the novels place in the history of the genre, that alone should put this book on most people's reading lists. To sweeten the pot, the plot is compelling, the last hundred pages I couldn't have put the book down for anything. I was caught up in the case and wanted to find out the why and the who in the mysterious circumstances surrounding the MOONSTONE.

The novel is narrated by several diff...more

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Jan 24, 2012 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

The problem with mysteries – for me, anyway, is that I don't care who did it. Which is a drawback. I just think well, it's one of those characters the author has given a name to, it won't be the fourth man back on the upper deck of the omnibus mentioned briefly on page 211. It will be someone with a name. And further, it will be someone who you don't think it will be, because that's the whole point. You don't think it's going to be that person so it's a surprise. So, if it turns out to be the no...more The problem with mysteries – for me, anyway, is that I don't care who did it. Which is a drawback. I just think well, it's one of those characters the author has given a name to, it won't be the fourth man back on the upper deck of the omnibus mentioned briefly on page 211. It will be someone with a name. And further, it will be someone who you don't think it will be, because that's the whole point. You don't think it's going to be that person so it's a surprise. So, if it turns out to be the not-obvious person (how could the little spinster with the gammy foot batter the ten foot Guardsman to death and scale the west wall on the fateful night? Well, she was on Victorian crack is how) I say – wow, how obvious. She was really not obviously the murderer, so she was obviously the murderer.

However, I really liked Woman in White and I loved No Name, so I read this.

In a modern detective tale, you have your detective, and there is a detective in this one, but he only occupies a short part of the story, he quickly retires to grow roses, literally, that's not a euphemism for some kind of rent boy scandal, so the rest of the story is made up by narratives from five or six main characters.

Now comes the dance of the seven veils.

Because if two narrators had been given their voice, the whole novel would have been over in 50 pages. You get the longwinded thoughts of all the people who DON'T know what actually happened. By page 350, after being mumbled at, prevaricated over, and digressed to for what seemed days, NAY, weeks, by Wilkie Collins' five narrators, all of whom suffer from amusing psychological tics and endearing human flaws, or was it the other way round, and all of whom could have summarised their tales onto two pages of foolscap, I was ready to shrink myself to the size of a capital R (pronounced "aargh") and insert myself into this novel Fantastic Voyage-style and grab a passing amateur sleuth and confess loudly I STOLE YOUR DAMNED MOONSTONE, ARREST ME, AND THERE'S AN END OF IT!

(Memo - write future review of Victorian novel as if invested into it Fantastic Voyage-style. Should be hilarious.)

Actually, there is a point to all this 430 pages of Moonstone. The whole plot, and this, strangely enough, is not a spoiler, hangs on the attempt of one guy to give up smoking. So The Moonstone is a very elaborate warning that going cold turkey is a bad idea, you must use the patches. The Moonstone is often cited as the earliest medical warning story – later examples are Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde, which concerns self-medication and its dangers, and Daisy Miller, which explains to tourists that they must get all their vaccinations. The genre is still thriving - the recent movie Bad Lieutenant – Port of New Orleans is all about inappropriate methods of combating severe back pain.

In the end I thought this was the Monkees instead of The Beatles, Pleasant Valley Sunday instead of Tomorrow Never Knows.

(less)

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Sep 28, 2008 Kathryn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: those wishing to read one of the first mystery novels and realize why it's still so good!

Shelves: classics, mystery, tyler-and-kate-bookclub

This is supposedly one of the first mystery novels ever published and is believed to introduce the prototype for the English detective hero character. It is also the first book in the Tyler-and-Kate Book Club; I will always love it because it's one of the only books Tyler and I could decide on to read together and it was wonderfully absorbing and provided us with lots of grand characters and interesting plot twists to enjoy—and the mystery to ponder!

It's certainly very long and often verbose—I...more

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Feb 20, 2012 Francine rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, brit-lit, classics, mystery

I've missed reading the classics, especially British Lit. When I first started reading The Moonstone, it all came rushing back to me: the beautiful descriptions of the English landscape, the wonderful use of words (some of which barely get used these days), the witticisms...but mostly, I didn't realize how much I missed catching a glimpse of quotidian life and living in that time period, temporarily (in this case, life in mid-19th century York).

The Moonstone is largely known as the first real my...more I've missed reading the classics, especially British Lit. When I first started reading The Moonstone, it all came rushing back to me: the beautiful descriptions of the English landscape, the wonderful use of words (some of which barely get used these days), the witticisms...but mostly, I didn't realize how much I missed catching a glimpse of quotidian life and living in that time period, temporarily (in this case, life in mid-19th century York).

The Moonstone is largely known as the first real mystery novel, with all the literary tropes attributed to modern day mysteries located all in one novel (interestingly enough, Edgar Allan Poe's works are considered novellas and so can't claim the "first real mystery novel" title). But it was more than that: it was an epistolary (I love those!), it provided a view into the "upstairs-downstairs" relationships within an upper class household, it was funny, it was a love story, it was a peek into race relations, class relations, and it even provided a skewed perspective on class and sex, as seen by various classes and sexes (forgive me if that sounds confusing, but it did give an interesting take on how the upper/lower classes saw men/women).

I would have given it a higher rating. For a good portion of the book, I was holding out at a steady 3. Somewhere along the way, though, everything became too convoluted, too sexist, too contrived. While I enjoyed many parts of the novel, there were many parts that made me cringe as well. Unfortunately, the more cringe-worthy aspects of the work overtook my sentiments, eventually.

I think this is still an important work to read, if only for this reason: for the time period it was written in, it was ahead of its time. For a modern reader, some of the characters' viewpoints (I can't speak to authorial intent as I didn't read up on Collins himself) are definitely dated and may not sit so well with a more enlightened audience. If one can get past some of the things being said towards the middle part of the book, specifically as Betteridge was narrating, the reader may be surprised to find the work actually quite funny and entertaining. The denouement is a tad contrived, but again, keep in mind when this was written.(less)

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Feb 03, 2009 Bruce rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: mystery fans, fans of early English novels

Shelves: early-british-mysteries, mystery, literary-fiction, 2009-reading

What a fine fine book this is. I am so surprised that it has taken me so long to get to it given how much I love Victorian Era British Novels. I think perhaps that is because of how slow a book I found the Woman in White to be. I finally picked up the Moonstone three days ago, and have read through it virtually nonstop.

This is often described as the first real detective novel in the English language, and as such you might expect it to be completely plot driven. That is not the case at all. Coll...more

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May 11, 2008 Keely rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Keely by: Ama

Shelves: mystery, novel, reviewed, uk-and-ireland

Perhaps it is not surprising that I managed to guess the 'who', if not the how of this prototype mystery. What may be somewhat of a surprise is that this recognition did not make the book tedious, nor did it become a plodding step-by-step towards inevitability like many mysteries are.

Like The Virginian, this predecessor of a genre never seems to fall into the same traps as its innumerable followers. Indeed, with both these books, the focus itself becomes something entirely different than the obs...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Kyle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People

Shelves: classics-in-2013

Though Wilkie Collins was long-time friends with Charles Dickens, they had drastically different writing styles, and suffered some rough patches in their relationship. In a letter to someone, Dickens talks about his thoughts on The Moonstone: "The construction is wearisome beyond endurance, and there is a vein of obstinate conceit in it that makes enemies of readers."

What the heck? Who's this Dickens guy, anyway? What the heck does he know about writing? Sheesh!

I don't know what book the vaunte...more

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Oct 28, 2011 Sean rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2011, 19th-century, gothic, mystery, victorian

The following is a recently found letter written by the English author Charles Dickens to his friend Wilkie Collins concerning the latter’s newly released 1868 novel The Moonstone:

Charles Dickens
11 Gad’s Hill Place
Hingham, Kent
England

November 13, 1868

Dear Wilkie,

I am now pressing my pen against this paper to congratulate you on the success of your excellent new novel, The Moonstone. I have just completed reading it and I would like to present you with my opinion that this was, as they say, a tr...more

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Oct 01, 2012 Donna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: all mystery lovers

Recommended to Donna by: PD James in "Talking About Detective Fiction"

Shelves: mystery, twisted-sisters

07/05/12 re-read for Maze book discussion

No need to adjust those stars...this is a 5-star novel all the way. The eleven narrators present their first-person account just like evidence in a courtroom. Quite modern use of experimentation to arrive at solution. Pathos, humor, class warfare, British imperialism, and a bright diamond...can you feel bad that it ends up where it does?

P. D. James says that "The Moonstone" is "one of the most perfectly plotted and technically brilliant novels in the Engl...more

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Dec 06, 2012 Jonfaith rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Given my awkward history with Collins, I must attribute my success with The Moonstone with the mystique of the Medina. It was frightfully hot in Morocco and I slipped into this novel as an escape and enjoyed its serial protagonists, its clumsy racism, its outrageous plot. Along with Stendhal's Charterhouse of Parma this novel fit the definition of transportive in an airtight manner.

The Moonstone has been regarded as the first detective movel. Its disparate perspectives don't quite overlap and th...more

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Feb 04, 2009 Daniel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009

I was torn between giving two stars and three stars to Wilkie Collins's "The Moonstone," a book T. S. Eliot called "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels." "Longest" is perhaps the operative word here, reminding one of Samuel Johnson's comment (speaking, in his case, of Milton's "Paradise Lost") that none ever wished it longer. "The Moonstone"'s length, in the end, is its chief and perhaps only major failing. Large chunks of the novel seem to drag on and on with...more I was torn between giving two stars and three stars to Wilkie Collins's "The Moonstone," a book T. S. Eliot called "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels." "Longest" is perhaps the operative word here, reminding one of Samuel Johnson's comment (speaking, in his case, of Milton's "Paradise Lost") that none ever wished it longer. "The Moonstone"'s length, in the end, is its chief and perhaps only major failing. Large chunks of the novel seem to drag on and on with few advancements being made to the plot in the process. The latter parts of the section narrated by Gabriel Betteredge, chief servant to the Verinder household, and almost all of Drusilla Clack's section really could have used some judicious editing.

I suspect, though, that long after I forget what a slog much of "The Moonstone" was to get through, I'll remember its many charms. Betteredge is a particularly fun narrator, given his obsession with Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" -- a book he treats as a cross between the Holy Bible and Nostradamus's "Prophecies" -- and his jaundiced eye toward male-female relations. Collins also must have had a ball making Drusilla Clack one of the most judgmental, grating Christian evangelists in English literature. Particularly priceless are the passages in which she wanders around the Verinder household and strategically places religious tracts in spots where family members, she hopes, would just happen upon them, instantly putting her relatives on the path to salvation.

Betteredge and Clack are so compelling that almost every other character in "The Moonstone," with the possible exception of opium addict Ezra Jennings, pales in comparison. Rachel Verinder -- despite being at the book's center as the recipient of the Indian diamond known as the Moonstone, the theft of which the plot revolves around -- isn't as fully drawn as the other characters, perhaps because she never takes over narration of the story. This, in a way, actually demonstrates one of Collins's chief skills as a writer: as each narrator takes his or her turn telling the story, that section of the book really becomes more about him or her than about the plot.

And that, ultimately, is what makes "The Moonstone" an interesting book. Despite being such an early and influential mystery novel -- it predated Arthur Conan Doyle's introduction of Sherlock Holmes by almost two decades -- it's really more about the characters themselves, their view of the world, and the decisions they make than it is about solving the mystery of the diamond's disappearance. It's a shame that more of today's mystery novelists haven't learned that lesson from "The Moonstone."

In retrospect, I realize I'm perhaps making "The Moonstone" sound like more of a four-star book, but trust me: the long, drawn-out sections of the book really are incredibly long and drawn out. I cannot overstate just how much this book tests the reader's patience, and for scores of pages at a time.(less)

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Apr 10, 2012 Felisa Rosa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, favorites, mystery

T.S. Eliot described The Moonstone as 'the first, the longest and the best of modern English detective novels', but for some reason I was still surprised by the brilliance of this book.
For a Victorian, Collins' writing is remarkably clear, and the story reflects his unconventional sense of morality and his wicked sense of humor. Highly recommended, especially if you are the sort of person who likes to cozy up with the sort of classic mystery that is set in an English manor house and involves di...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Wanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebooks, 2010, mystery-thriller

It's a classic! While I honestly did not enjoy this one as much as I did The Woman in White; nonetheless, this was a fantastic read and one which I will re-read in the future.

For me, I shall miss Betteredge and his love of Robinson Crusoe (his Bible and everyday reference book). I shall not miss Rachel and/or Franklin Blake as they were uninspiring characters - I wish Mr. Collins would have rounded them out a bit. Rachel was always obstinate and Franklin Blake was a bit of a wet noodle! We know...more

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Oct 19, 2008 Rory rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: any history-mystery fan smart enough to skip the giveaway intro

Shelves: gave-up-on, pre-1960

I'd kept reading about this book--how it was the original murder mystery, how it inspired so many others, how it was so exciting. I mean, T. S. Eliot famously said it was "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels". I adore really old who-dunnits. Heck, I love books written in 1868. So I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. And I thought I'd give it its due by reading all the intro material. Yay, context.

And then...a couple paragraphs into the introduction, the edi...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Leslie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-books, british, guardian, kindle, mysteries

After a somewhat slow start, I became caught up in this classic mystery of a diamond's disappearance from a Yorkshire manor house. Certain aspects of the story have been copied so often that I could guess some of the solution, but Collins still had surprises to keep me going. However, as much as I enjoyed the plot, it is Collins' characters that elevate this mystery to its well-deserved classics standing.

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Jun 14, 2010 Hayes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-prior-to-2009

The classic mystery with an armchair detective (who consults with Robinson Crusoe, the book, for inspiration), a beautiful heiress, "evil Hindoos", and the missing gem... in short, something for everyone!!

- - - - - - - - - - -

This time listening through BBC Radio 7:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00d54k5

Very good adaption, which did not include Betteridge's "discussions" with Robinson Crusoe. A shame, but necessary for the script.

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Dec 14, 2011 Ed rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bloomsbury-100-crime

The Moonstone is an epistolary novel, written by Wilkie Collins and first published in 1868. It is set about 20 years earlier. I found the pace of the novel to be a little slow but built to a great end. The central conceit of the novel is that what we are reading is a collection of written statements from a variety of people who were witness in some manner to the theft of an Indian diamond called the "Moonstone". The voice is excellent throughout and changes a bit in each section with the person...more The Moonstone is an epistolary novel, written by Wilkie Collins and first published in 1868. It is set about 20 years earlier. I found the pace of the novel to be a little slow but built to a great end. The central conceit of the novel is that what we are reading is a collection of written statements from a variety of people who were witness in some manner to the theft of an Indian diamond called the "Moonstone". The voice is excellent throughout and changes a bit in each section with the personality of the different "writers". It is written in the usual verbose manner of Victorian literature (I by no means intend "verbose" to be a criticism here).

There is a marked...I don't want to say misogyny as women are valued, but the Victorian sense of manhood and womanhood is very much in evidence here. There is also a typical sense of class distinction and upper class superiority throughout with a bit of racism toward Indians, though nothing unusual for the time. I would imagine anyone reading this review would be prepared for this but one never knows. If you can't tolerate such things in your reading than by all means skip this one.

The different "writers" are distinct from one another and well done. My favorites were Gabriel Betteredge, the main servant of one of the involved families, who opens the narration after some background information, and Drusilla Clack, another member of the family who is an obnoxious evangelical Christian. Betteredge is dry and witty and has a very likeable voice. Drusilla Clack is truly, wonderfully obnoxious. She is haughty and hypocritical. She is utterly unable to deal with people is anything like a reasonable manner without injecting her evangelism, unwanted at every turn, into the subject at hand. I think most of us have at least met someone like this and it is interesting to note that these people have been at it for more than 100 years.

Other characters include Franklin Blake, one of the protagonists I suppose of this novel, Mr. Bruff, a solicitor and family friend and the well known detective Sergeant Cuff. Sgt. Cuff is one of the brilliant detective characters like Dupin or Holmes and is, in my estimation, their equal.

I thought this was a truly excellent novel and, while the English country house style is not my preferred style of crime fiction, The Moonstone is a wonderful example of this type of book.(less)

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Mar 02, 2009 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It took me a while to get into this book. Collins took his time in setting up the story, the crime, the characters. It really started to pick up after the first narrative, and I flew through 300 pages in a couple of days.

The Moonstone is considered a classic, and because Collins was a contemporary of Dickens, you expect the book to be heavier, maybe even dull at times. It's actually surprisingly modern and even funny! All of the characters have their moments--Miss Clack is crazy, the detective...more

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Feb 23, 2009 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wilkie Collins has the remarkable ability to keep me on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what's going to happen next, only to leave me not caring much in the end.

Credited as being the first detective novel, the story of the lost Moonstone, an Indian religious treasure stolen by a British family centuries before, is told through the butler and other characters as they seek to find the culprit who stole it out of Rachel Verinder's room. It's fine as a detective story, and the first part wh...more Wilkie Collins has the remarkable ability to keep me on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what's going to happen next, only to leave me not caring much in the end.

Credited as being the first detective novel, the story of the lost Moonstone, an Indian religious treasure stolen by a British family centuries before, is told through the butler and other characters as they seek to find the culprit who stole it out of Rachel Verinder's room. It's fine as a detective story, and the first part where Collins mixes the legend of the Moonstone with mysticism and three very real, shady characters intent on bringing the diamond back to India, is masterfully done. But as a novel, it feels dull and I didn't really care about the characters. SPOILER ALERT

The first half of the book is filled with suspense, the second half felt like a let down. The main characters that we follow are in no mortal danger. The reader is led to trust both Rachel and Blake, even when evidence points against them so that we never take seriously the charges against them. The real culprit is never treated as a serious character or one that we should like, hate or even fear. Gabriel Betteridge introduces him as a fine fellow who Rachel is expected to marry, but we know to trust his daughter Penelope, who tells her father that any woman would prefer Blake. Miss Clack - who I loved - shows us Ablewhite's duplicitous nature, so we are further led to mistrust him, a nice touch on leading readers to the truth. But he remains a 2-dimensional character. He's written to be the fall guy.

The Moonstone is the second Collins novel I read (the first was the Woman in White) and it holds together better than the other, whose story kind of fell into a confusing melodrama in the end with too many mysteries. (though the Woman in White was much more suspensful in the first two-thirds.) Both of them suffer the same flaw in that Collins does a good job in developing a main sympathetic male character, but the leading women are underdeveloped and largely unseen, though they are key to the story. He uses it partly to his advantage because the reader is left in the dark about what's going on with these characters, but the sides we do see of them are very flat and dull so that I could care less if they lived or died.
Collins knows how to hold the reader's interest, but in the end, I was left not caring much about the story or even able to finish the last chapter about the Moonstone's fate.
(less)

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Daniel I liked your review, Jennifer, and read your comments on my review. I agree with you: except for Gabriel Betteredge and perhaps Ezra Jennings, I didn'...more
Feb 23, 2009 03:25pm

Jennifer Daniel wrote: "I liked your review, Jennifer, and read your comments on my review. I agree with you: except for Gabriel Betteredge and perhaps Ezra Je...more
Feb 23, 2009 03:32pm

Daniel There also was some hint, if I remember correctly, that Ezra Jennings had committed a crime or done something else untoward when he worked for a previ...more
Feb 23, 2009 03:38pm

Nov 25, 2012 Safae rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001, english

Review to come!
EDIT
First of all I wanna add a little bit of information about the moonstone. when i first googled The moonstone and found that it does exist (picture below)
a real moonstone

I was like

IT does exist and it really does originates from India.
But surprise surprise !!! they are sooo cheap you can get them at 50$ or even less.seriously? what the hell?

So all this for a cheap diamond ?
Ok enough with the diamond and let's talk about the book.
This book contains a lot of different narrators, in an attempt...more

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Jul 18, 2012 Dinah Küng rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm not finished yet, but having enjoyed "The Woman in White" so much, I plunged into this with enthusiasm. Again, I read this as a teen-ager but missed a great deal, not understanding as much about the period and the country as I do now. I've lived in England since reading this book, worked for the English and with enhanced capacity to understand the nuances, am getting a great deal out of it this time around. Plus, I've completely forgotten how it ends. Win-win.

I can't say I find the long narr...more

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Feb 05, 2013 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, own, mystery-thriller, classics-2013, 5-star-reads

What a delightful mystery! I thoroughly enjoyed this one. And the best part was that I was surprised by the ending. I love that! This was just a really fun read. Lots of humor laced throughout the story that set such a wonderful tone and atmosphere. It kept me constantly guessing and speculating as to "whodunnit". Well done, Mr. Collins!

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Apr 16, 2013 Julie Davis rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've never been that interested in this book or anything by Wilkie Collins for that matter. Collins had that stigma (for me) of having written "classics" and "the first detective novel." Which just killed any interest I'd ever have had because classics and "first ever" books are musty, boring, and stale, right?

I know that isn't true, but I still have a hard time shaking that idea.

However, when B.J. Harrison, narrator extraordinaire of The Classic Tales Podcast offered the first five hours of t...more I've never been that interested in this book or anything by Wilkie Collins for that matter. Collins had that stigma (for me) of having written "classics" and "the first detective novel." Which just killed any interest I'd ever have had because classics and "first ever" books are musty, boring, and stale, right?

I know that isn't true, but I still have a hard time shaking that idea.

However, when B.J. Harrison, narrator extraordinaire of The Classic Tales Podcast offered the first five hours of this book as a free sample I couldn't resist. I soon gave in and ordered the entire books. I was hooked in just a few chapters.

I really didn't expect Gabriel Betteredge, the first narrator, to be so funny. He spends his spare time reading and rereading Robinson Crusoe which is his ultimate guide to any tricky decision he must make.

The second narrator is equally hilarious, a maiden aunt whose dedication to the Christian cause is such that she spends a considerable amount of time hiding religious tracts in people's homes to trick them into reading them. I actually laughed out loud at some of the tract names. Now that I think of it, I knew that Collins and Charles Dickens were good friends and I suppose I should have expected a good sense of the ridiculous.

Not every narrator is humorous but the characterization is strong for everyone. Rachel Verinder's outburst to Franklin Blake toward the end of the book made me applaud her strong common sense while I sympathized with her situation. I was moved to pity by Ezra Jennings' plight and delighted in Sergeant Cuff's penchant for roses.

Harrison's reading emphasized humor without being over the top and pointed out the pathos without being maudlin. His reading was the key to my thorough enjoyment of this Victorian tale complete with a family feud, a cursed diamond, three untrustworthy Indian jugglers, and a small boy nicknamed Gooseberry.
The ending was of its time and incredible by today's standards, but I was on tenterhooks as each revelation was made. In fact, I put off listening to a brand new book in a series I love so that I could get to the end of this mystery.

Harrison is offering the entire book for $5 which is an amazing bargain. I'm sure how long that offer will stand so if you're interested check out the link above.(less)

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Jan 01, 2009 Katharine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, drama, mystery

The Moonstone

I have read The Woman in White and I'll be honest -- I wasn't so impressed. I skimmed parts of the middle section, I admit, but my overall impression was of Gothic cliches, an unlikeable hero and heroine, and a soppy romance. But I've heard The Moonstone mentioned as the first and greatest detective story so many times, that when I found a copy at a garage sale I thought I might as well give Collins another try. (I am eternally hopeful when it comes to the classics.) That, and in c...more The Moonstone

I have read The Woman in White and I'll be honest -- I wasn't so impressed. I skimmed parts of the middle section, I admit, but my overall impression was of Gothic cliches, an unlikeable hero and heroine, and a soppy romance. But I've heard The Moonstone mentioned as the first and greatest detective story so many times, that when I found a copy at a garage sale I thought I might as well give Collins another try. (I am eternally hopeful when it comes to the classics.) That, and in college I read a book about the influence of opium on Romantic literature and this was one of the examples. That book about opium for some reason made quite an impression on me, and as a result I've always meant to read The Moonstone.

I am surprised, in a satisfying way, to find that it does in fact deserve its reputation. It is a really good mystery, and a really good Victorian novel of manners as well. The story is told as a series of truthful "statements" by different characters, which works astonishingly well -- probably because Collins differentiates so masterfully between the various voices. Some of them are humorous in tone, such as the interfering Miss Clack, who could be a cross between Miss Bates and Mrs. from Bleak House. The way she justifies her own actions is both funny and very acutely observed. Others are serious or sympathetic, like the fascinating minor character Ezra Jennings, who only comes in at the end.

The mystery is plotted extremely well, and builds gradually with each character contributing portions of the solution. As a result the book is well balanced and moves at a nice even pace, and the character depictions are entwined with the clues to the mystery.

My only complaint is that again, the hero and heroine are very unsympathetic, to me at least. Collins is supposed to be good at portraying "strong women" but in this case Rachel Verinder seems more like a Victorian gentleman's stereotypical idea of what a strong woman should be like. She doesn't seem like a real person at all. And Franklin Blake, the hero (for lack of a better term, because he's not really the hero of the story so much as the main subject of it), is not really that admirable -- he seems like a weak person. Neither of them seem to undergo much development. However, in this novel these failings didn't bother me as much as they did in The Woman in White, probably because the story focuses much more on the plot and the other characters than on the romance.

I don't know that I would say this is the greatest mystery novel ever, but it's certainly a defining member of its genre, masterfully crafted, and well worth reading. (less)

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Aug 04, 2012 Carolyn F. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, audiobook-and-owned-book, period-piece

Listening to the audiobook. I also own a paperback and a leather bound collection of his works - yes, I'm bragging.

This author was a contemporary of Charles Dickens so for some reason I thought his books would be serious. This was but there's a lot of a humor in it. It's written as letters from various people about a Moonstone diamond and what their experiences were around it. There is a servant whose whole life has been influenced by Robinson Crusoe and he refers to it as someone would a Bible,...more Listening to the audiobook. I also own a paperback and a leather bound collection of his works - yes, I'm bragging.

This author was a contemporary of Charles Dickens so for some reason I thought his books would be serious. This was but there's a lot of a humor in it. It's written as letters from various people about a Moonstone diamond and what their experiences were around it. There is a servant whose whole life has been influenced by Robinson Crusoe and he refers to it as someone would a Bible, he finds questions answered through Robinson Crusoe with the book even telling him what's about to happen. Then there's a spinster who hands out religious tracts instead of tips and has a tract at hand for swearing, family harmony (49th edition), excessive hair ribbons leading to sin, etc., very funny.

There was something that happened a few times that cracked me up but I don't know if this was intentional or the author just went a little crazy. A few people would say, "I have two words to answer your questions" and then they'd go on for several paragraphs. I would try to figure out if there were two main words that were supposed to convey something but there weren't. This happened a few times. As a woman whose has been forced to listen to a few windbags I have a feeling that he was just developing the characters because a lot of people do this. "I'll only take a few seconds of your time" and then I'm finally able to sneak away about an hour later.

Another thing in these books, Arthur Conan Doyle's books (another contemporary) there's an expert who figures it out from experience and deduction. Well, you keep thinking okay this guy knows what's talking about, that totally makes sense. Then he's wrong and up comes someone else who has it all figured out, who is wrong. Over and over. I got to the point where I stopped believing what these "experts" had to say. This I didn't enjoy because a lot of time is spent convincing the reader even though they're wrong. So I gave it a lower rating.

Like I mentioned I have a set of Wilkie Collins books. I also have a few of his audiobooks. I'm planning on reading more of his books even though I felt this book was average. (less)

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Jun 14, 2010 Bettie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: BBC7 listeners

Shelves: fraudio, classic, britain-england, mystery-thriller, play-dramatisation, re-read, victorian, published-1868, spring-2010

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 05, 2008 Kevin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One of the earliest examples of Detective or Sensation Fiction, The Moonstone does not disappoint for strong narrative or intriguing characters. The novel is essentially epistolary, with four or five main characters all recording their knowledge of the famous eponymous, stolen from India by a British soldier and rumored to be cursed. Although Collins does not use the multiple narrators to establish multiple viewpoints of a similar scene, he does establish a certain amount of cynical distance bet...more One of the earliest examples of Detective or Sensation Fiction, The Moonstone does not disappoint for strong narrative or intriguing characters. The novel is essentially epistolary, with four or five main characters all recording their knowledge of the famous eponymous, stolen from India by a British soldier and rumored to be cursed. Although Collins does not use the multiple narrators to establish multiple viewpoints of a similar scene, he does establish a certain amount of cynical distance between the reader and his characters, particularly the butler, Gabriel Betteridge, and a young, devoutly religious, philanthropist. While Betteridge in particular did arouse this reader’s sympathy, Collins continually invites us to laugh at the old man’s peculiarities and prejudices.

The mystery itself (as noted above, The Moonstone is credited with being the first detective novel) was always engaging, although the pivotal role played by an opium-induced dream put a little too much deux in the machina for my taste (clues about opium were admittedly dropped much earlier in the novel, so Collins didn’t completely pull the rug out from under his readers). As is often the case with mysteries (no pun intended), I wasn’t very interested in teasing out the clues in The Moonstone, but the narrative structure itself gave the perpetrator away. After all, if we’re meant to use clues dropped by the author to guess the criminal, then it must be a character already introduced in the novel (bringing in a previously unmentioned suspect at the end ruins the whole exercise).

In the case of The Moonstone, Collins clearly sets up two male rivals, indicating that the one who doesn’t do any narrating must be the thief (while a guilty narrator who lies to the reader about the facts of the case would be very interesting, it seemed like a bit too much for the first mystery novel). The real mystery (at least for me) was the manner is which the diamond was stolen and not who stole it, but the real pleasure is in the amusing characters and mid-nineteenth century details.
(less)

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Apr 20, 2008 Dfordoom rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-mystery

The Moonstone, published in 1868, occupies an important place in the history of the crime novel. Wilkie Collins certainly didn’t the invent the detective story, but he was one of its earliest exponents and the huge success of his “sensation novels” such as The Woman in White and The Moonstone helped to create the market for this genre, and thus contributed to the detective fiction boom of the late 19th century. The Moonstone is more than just a crime story. Collins combines his mystery with some...more The Moonstone, published in 1868, occupies an important place in the history of the crime novel. Wilkie Collins certainly didn’t the invent the detective story, but he was one of its earliest exponents and the huge success of his “sensation novels” such as The Woman in White and The Moonstone helped to create the market for this genre, and thus contributed to the detective fiction boom of the late 19th century. The Moonstone is more than just a crime story. Collins combines his mystery with some social satire and some pertinent observations on subjects such as colonialism and the position of women. The book opens with the theft by an English army officer of a fabulous diamond from an Indian shrine. The diamond is not destined to bring happiness either to the man who originally stole it or to the members of his family to whom it is subsequently passed on, and the Brahmins charged with recovery of the stone are determined to get it back even it takes them decades to do so. The jewel is bequeathed to young Rachel Verinder, but on the very night when her cousin Franklin Blake presents her with it the moonstone mysteriously disappears. The unravelling of the mystery takes place in a typically leisurely 19th century style, but the writing is so witty and so entertaining that there’s never any danger of boredom. The cast of colourful subsidiary characters also helps to maintain interest. The structure of the novel is fiendishly complex, with multiple narrators and multiple points of view, but Collins draws the threads together with great skill. The very different personalities of the various narrators (such as the religious fanatic Miss Clack, the ageing but brilliant police detective whose real passion is roses rather than crime and the family steward who firmly believes that the answer to every problems can be found in the pages of Robinson Crusoe) and their very different perspectives on the case also add to the interest. Collins has a great deal of fun at the expense of the truly appalling Miss Clack! The unfortunate medical man, Ezra Jennings, is one of those wonderful characters who make 19th century English novels worth reading. The solution to the mystery is suitably ingenious and the ending is exceptionally satisfying. A marvellous book, and not just for fans of crime fiction.(less)

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May 02, 2008 Dan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Lauren's review and Anna's comment let me know I'd probably like this book. I have to say I found it far better than I expected even with those recommendations.

The Moonstone is a detective novel with somewhere around eleven detectives--each piecing together their own small part and only in their sharing, contrasting, and comparing does the whole picture become available to the reader. The book moves from tense to funny with great ease, and for a while it feels like it might be a drawing room mys...more

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Dec 03, 2010 Rusty rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Emily

Shelves: classic, mystery-thriller

This is a wonderful book by a talented author. I now understand why so many people believe that this novel is one of if not the best book that Wilkie Collins has written. It begins with the theft of the moonstone by a British soldier on tour in India. He bequeathes the moonstone to his niece to be presented to her on her birthday. Her favorite lover brings it to her but it disappears shortly thereafter and the mystery unfolds from that point. Who stole the moonstone? Who commits the murders? Wh...more

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About Wilkie Collins

A close friend of Charles Dickens' from their meeting in March 1851 until Dickens' death in June 1870, William "Wilkie" Collins was one of the best known, best loved, and, for a time, best paid of Victorian fiction writers. But after his death, his reputation declined as Dickens' bloomed. Now, Collins is being given more critical and popular attention than he has received for fifty years. Most of...more

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“Your tears come easy, when you're young, and beginning the world. Your tears come easy, when you're old, and leaving it. I burst out crying.” — 30 people liked it

“At the age when we are all of us most apt to take our colouring, in the form of a reflection from the colouring of other people, he had been sent abroad, and had been passed on from one nation to another, before there was time for any one colouring more than another to settle itself on him firmly. As a consequence of this, he had come back with so many different sides to his character, all more or less jarring with each other, that he seemed to pass his life in a state of perpetual contradiction with himself. He could be a busy man, and a lazy man; cloudy in the head, and clear in the head; a model of determination, and a spectacle of helplessness, all together. He had his French side, and his German side, and his Italian side--the original English foundation showing through, every now and then, as much as to say, "Here I am, sorely transmogrified, as you see, but there's something of me left at the bottom of him still.” — 11 people liked it

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