The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

The Moonstone is a powerful, inventive and intriguing tale, one that is sure to keep the reader turning the pages.

First published in 1868,  it is, in a way, a precocious post-modern novel in so much as it mixes up novelistic genres.  Simultaneously a detective story, an almost gothic romance and a social critique, it shifts its complexion in a chameleon-like manner in the course of the unfolding events.

A holy gem, the Moonstone, has been stolen from India by a British Army officer and brought back to England.  According the terms of his will, it is to be presented to his niece Rachel Verinder on her next birthday.  And so Rachel receives the diamond, valued at £20,000, but it goes missing on the night of her birthday party.  Suspicion falls on several characters, relationships fracture and death soon follows.

The Moonstone is almost an epistolary novel, being told through extensive written accounts (rather than through letters) by key players in the mystery.  The first half of the novel is told by Gabriel Betteredge, the head servant of the Verinder household.  He introduces us to most of the characters who have a bearing on proceedings.  The second half of the book is told by several other characters, and it contains the solution to the whereabouts of the diamond.

The point of view throughout the book shifts frequently, either because of reported speech or because of a change of narrator.  This adds to the complexity of the tale and the manner in which information is provided to both the characters and the reader.  All are kept on their toes, guessing and second-guessing.