THE MOONSTONE

When Rachel Verinder's legacy of a priceless Indian diamond is stolen, all the evidence indicates that it is her beloved, Franklin Blake, who is guilty. Around this central axis of crime and thwarted love, Collins constructs an ingenious plot of teasing twists and surprises, and an elaborate multi-voiced narrative that sustains the tension all the way to its stunning ending. Described by T.S. Eliot as "the first, the longest and the best of modern English detective novels", Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone is an important precursor of the modern mystery and suspense genres.