num_pages: 719
description: Intrigue, investigations, thievery, drugs and murder all make an appearance in Collins's classic who-done-it, The Moonstone. Published in serial form in 1868, it was inspired in part by a spectacular murder case widely reported in the early 1860s. Collins's story revolves around a diamond stolen from a Hindu holy place. On her eighteenth birthday, Rachel Verinder receives the diamond, but by the following morning the stone has been stolen again. As the story unravels through multiple eyewitness accounts, the elderly Sergeant Cuff - with a face "sharp as a hatchet" - looks for the culprit. One of Collins's best-loved novels, with an exciting plot moved along by deftly-drawn characters and elegant pacing, The Moonstone Was also turned into a play by Collins; the play appears as an appendix to this edition.The first ever English detective novel. A priceless Indian jewel, the Moonstone, is at the center of intrigue, murder, love, and much theorizing.
language: English
title: The Moonstone
titlecomplete: The Moonstone (Broadview literary texts)
characters: Matthew Bruff, Drusilla Clack, Penelope Betteredge, Dr. Candy, Gabriel Betteredge, Lady Julia Verinder, Ezra Jennings, Rachel Verinder, Franklin Blake, Godfrey Ablewhite, Mr. Murthwaite, Rosanna Spearman, Sergeant Cuff
genres: Victorian, Mystery, Fiction, Literature, Historical Fiction, Crime, Classics, Mystery Thriller, 19th Century, British Literature
ratings_count: 91345
places: London, England, England, United Kingdom, Yorkshire, England
awards: awardedAt: 1230796800000
name: Premio Euskadi de Literatura
category: Traduccion, awardedAt: 1357027200000
name: CWA Best Ever
category: Crime Novel
publisher: Broadview Press