Pubblicato in Italia con il titolo La pietra di luna. Una festa di compleanno, un diamante di grande valore che scompare nel cuore della notte. Chi lo ha rubato?
According to T. S. Elliot the father of the English detective story is Wilkie Collins and he described The Moonstone as “the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels”.
Told from different perspectives in epistolary form, the story revolves around the Moonstone, an Indian diamond surrounded by an aura of mystery. On her eighteenth birthday, Rachel Verinder receives the Moonstone as a present. The diamond has already caused enough problems in her family and when it disappears the same night of her birthday party, the problems only continue. The police is investigating, but finding the diamond is not easy. Was it stolen by the three Indians seen hanging around the house? Or was it stolen from the strange maid or was someone in the family? And why is Rachel behaving so strangely?
It was a slow beginning for me because the narrator goes into a detailed description of the background history of the Verinder family, but I soon found myself immersed. I enjoyed the mystery, the narrators’ comments, and how the story develops so I highly recommend this timeless classic!
