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The Moonstone

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The Moonstone

By: Wilkie Collins
Narrated by: Walter Covell, full cast
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About this listen

 The story involves a huge diamond, the moonstone, originally stolen from an Indian shrine. The gem is given to an English girl on her 18th birthday but disappears that same night. What follows is a spellbinding mystery that to this day has the power to draw the listener into its world of danger, suspense, and surprise.Public Domain (P)1986 Jimcin Recordings Classics Mystery Science Fiction Traditional Detectives

Editor reviews

At her 18th birthday party, Rachel Verinder shows off the valuable Indian diamond that she inherited from her uncle. That night, it’s taken from her room. Thus begins the mystery at the heart of Wilkie Collins’ 1868 novel, The Moonstone.

As the listener learns, Rachel’s diamond is wanted by three Hindu priests who have sworn to recover the religious artifact. Rachel’s love interest, Franklin Blake, searches for the gem. The possible suspects include three Indian jugglers at the party and a maid who mysteriously drowned herself shortly afterwards.

Given a measured reading by Walter Covell in an English accent, Collins’ mystery story is chock full of intriguing characters and unexpected turns that lead to a surprising resolution.

Critic reviews

"The first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels." (T.S. Eliot)
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This book is well worth the effort, despite its unabridged length and patchy audio quality. Sometimes it really sounds as though you're listening to a cassette.

The story is narrated by various characters involved in the story. The mystery is set up when the Moonstone, a large diamond, stolen from India, goes missing after a birthday party in a country house.

The pace is variable; occasionally the focus moves away from the diamond completely - in fact the development of the personalities involved are much more important than the solution of the puzzle about where the diamond went. Which is fortunate, since the answer that comes at the end is a bit of a let down.

The narration is interesting - it is slightly stilted, as if it were really being narrated by the character in the book. I came to love this style!

I was enthralled by the book and would recommend it to those who like a good mystery and the classic style of narration. One star has been removed just for the audio quality!

A classic book, idiosyncratically narrated

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Enjoyed the book itself but the main reader, and one of the other readers were irritating. Of all the thousands of English actors, why choose an American who couldn't do a convincing British accent - it really distracted me from the story

Unconvincing British Accents

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A classic rendered boring by the by the patchy quality of the recording, but most of all by the amateurish narration. I would suggest you only buy this audiobook if you want to test your patience.

The Moonstone

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