The Moonstone

If diamonds are a girl's best friend, then why is Rachel Verinder leery about the yellow diamond she has recently inherited? Is there some mystical power in the jewel, or does someone else want it so badly that they're willing to go to dangerous lengths to get it? Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone is as much a mystery as it is a commentary on the less desirable elements in English society.

''the first and greatest of English detective novels'' T.S.Eliot 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 Somnauth. When the Moonstone disappears the case looks simple, but in mid-Victorian England no one is what they seem, and nothing can be taken for granted. Witnesses, suspects, and detectives take up the story in turn. The bemused butler, the love-stricken housemaid, the enigmatic detective Sergeant Cuff, the drug-addicted scientist, each speculate on the mystery as Collins weaves their narratives into a masterpiece of construction and suspense. But The Moonstone is more than just a detective novel or a murder mystery and this new edition features a fascinating introduction by John Sutherland which discusses the themes of Imperialism, Sensationalism and Mesmerism and the way in which they operate in the novel and within its cultural context.

John Sutherland is at University College London.