The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
September 13, 2008
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
The Moonstone is the classic detective novel, complete with an invaluable but cursed jewel, a mysterious theft, suspicious strangers from a foreign land, rigid British social classes, quicksand, interrogations, an unassuming detective and cigars in the billiard room. It seems unoriginal. Too much of what we’ve already seen: Sherlock and Watson, Poirot, even board game Clue.
However, The Moonstone was the Apollo 11 of the detective genre. It’s not a stereotype, but the prototype. It was a launching pad for all detective fiction. As a fan of the genre, I can vouch for this stellar novel. It’s out of this world!
nice review. Yes, I thought it was a bit mundane until I realised, while researching it while reading it, that it was the very first of its type. Amazing for that.
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