Emerald of Catherine the Great, 1926

by G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc (Introduction)

1926. There is Catherine the Great. She plays no long part, but she founded the fortunes of many; and we are in communion with the matter of that large and generous but regal soul; we agree that it is a pity she died before we were born. There are those who know all about Russia, and the author knows nothing, have, in the matter of Russia, this Monarch of all the Russias for a link. Belloc was urged to write a detective story. He promised he would, on the condition there was nothing to find out. Here it is.

228 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2003

About the author

Gilbert Keith Chesterton was an English writer, philosopher, lay theologian, and literary and art critic.

He was educated at St. Paul’s, and went to art school at University College London. In 1900, he was asked to contribute a few magazine articles on art criticism, and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote a hundred books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, five plays, five novels, and some two hundred short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest-detective, Father Brown. In spite of his literary accomplishments, he considered himself primarily a journalist. He wrote over 4000 newspaper essays, including 30 years worth of weekly columns for the Illustrated London News, and 13 years of weekly columns for the Daily News. He also edited his own newspaper, G.K.’s Weekly.

Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Free download available at Project Gutenberg

I made the proofing of this book for Free Literature and Project Gutenberg will publish it.

TO MAURICE BARING


MY DEAR MAURICE:


This is the fourth book I have dedicated to you, and
you will see why if you read it--which no one need do.

First, emeralds are green; and, on principle, like the
Green Overcoat, it owes to you of the Green Elephant, a
dedication. Next, there is Catherine the Great. She plays
no long part, but she founded the fortunes of them all;
and we are in communion in the matter of that large and
generous but regal soul; we agree that it is a pity she died
before we were born. Also, you who know all about
Russia, and I who know nothing, have, in the matter of
Russia, this Monarch of all the Russias for a link.

Lastly, you have often urged me to write a detective
story, because (you assured me) they have gigantic sales.
I promised you I would, on condition there was nothing to
find out.

Here it is.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the popular style of early-20th-century British humour, this book generates comedy largely by making its characters ridiculous, unpleasant, stupid, and venial, with the omniscient narrator pointing at them and encouraging the audience to laugh. That's not my favourite approach to comedy by a long way, hence the three-star rating.

It's a kind of parody of detective fiction, in which the reader (almost) always knows exactly what's happened, and the characters never put the full story together. It involves an heirloom jewel that is lost (not stolen at all) during a country house party; everyone who finds it, for their own reasons, pushes it off on someone else and then throws suspicion on that person, who then passes it on to the next person before they can be caught with it. This makes it also a kind of farce, I suppose.

It has the unusual distinction of having been illustrated by G.K. Chesterton, who has captured the different characters in caricature style.

I found it mildly amusing; other readers may like it a lot more than I did.

[The Usual · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disabuse yourself of the notion that this is detective fiction proper: it's amusing enough light farce. A little dated, perhaps, and would come to no harm if it lost a few pages front and back, but... not bad.

[Zbigniew Zdziarski · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick but tiresome read. Belloc should definitely stick to writing non-fiction. He's a genius at that.