Wilkie Collins: The Moonstone (December 2021)

The Moonstone, published in 1868, is regarded as the first modern detective story.

The Moonstone concerns the theft of a valuable diamond which had been previously looted from the forehead of an Indian idol. It is valued at £20,000 (£2.5 million approximately in today’s money). To the Brahmin priests, to whom it is sacred, the Moonstone is priceless and they have a duty to get it back.

The diamond is considered to be cursed, so when the British officer who looted it bequeaths it to his niece, her mother strongly suspects that his motive is to punish the family for disowning him.

Different characters narrate the story and as befits any mystery novel, there are plenty of red herrings and misdirection. Someone who seems to be suspicious and sinister at first turns out to be innocent or helpful and the seemingly good are anything but.

Most of us thought it was a good and gripping story satisfyingly resolved, but we all agreed that it was overlong and some felt that the method of discovering how the diamond went missing was a little far-fetched.

Set in Victorian times, attitudes towards women and the Indians made us wince, but there was an insight into the way large houses were run, particularly in the attitude towards the servants, not exactly part of the family but valued members of the household. The police inspector was quickly told to treat them with respect during his investigation.

We found the writing style ponderous for our modern taste and some characters rambled on to such an extent that we struggled to get to what was being said but, of course, that is normal for Victorian novels.

Recently, the Discussion Group debated the return of artifacts to their rightful place, and it was interesting to note that, at no stage in the book did anyone say that they didn’t want this (literally) damned diamond and suggest sending the Moonstone back to the temple it was stolen from in the first place.

We awarded the book 3 out of 5.

As this was our last meeting of the year we closed the meeting with each one of us reading a poem either of a favourite poet or a newly discovered one. Wine and nibbles followed and suffice to say a good time as usual was had by all.

Our next read is Good Girl Bad Girl by Michael Robotham.