The Moonstone

tags: detective story, mystery

⭐⭐

From Goodreads

Bequeathed a rare diamond by her late uncle, heiress Rachel Verinder has no idea it was stolen from an Indian temple or that it has a cursed history. When the diamond disappears on her eighteenth birthday, multiple suspects - including Rachel’s suitor, Franklin Blake - are implicated in its theft. Determined to prove his innocence, Franklin begins his own investigation. Did one of his fellow Englishmen steal the jewel? Or was it whisked back to India?

The case, which unfolds through multiple narratives, takes startling twists and turns in pursuit of the truth. Widely considered the first great detective novel written in English, The Moonstone is one of Wilkie Collins’s most famous works.

It is considered the first detective novel but I beg to disagree. The Moonstone was written in 1848 and Edgar Allan Poe's The Murders In The Rue Morgue came out first in 1841. Yes it is a very short story with less than 100 pages but C. Auguste Dupin was the first fictional detective in the first detective story ever written and the most brilliant IMHO. M. Dupin and Poe's story inspired both Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle.

The Moonstone is unnecessary long and not very exciting. I was bored to death and finishing it was a chore. It's more like a family drama and the center of the story is the missing moonstone. I didn't like the writing style with multiple points of view divided into their own chapters written in the first person - my pet peeve.

I find the book too simple and pedestrian. And too contrived. The detective, Sergeant Cuff is sharp and smart but I never warmed up to his character.  His character is as dry as the Sahara. The rest of the characters are not likable specially the housemaid who has a physical defect and not pretty. She fell in love with a young man way above her station. Adoration and unreasonable protection of a person who doesn't look at or even acknowledge her is crazy and it isn't the fault of the man. She is a housemaid in the 1800s! The whole mystery is revolved around him and he isn't even aware that it is so. 

I find the story very weak and doesn't need to be 600 pages long. It was serialized so understandable but the editors should have trimmed it to just a third because the rest is just group of words that do not contribute much to the story. I skipped one chapter after realizing it has nothing to do with the narrative and is totally totally not needed. Totally. I'm not kidding. 

Not recommended.