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.