What a wonderful detective novel! Hailed as the first of its genre, it follows the mysterious Indian moonstone from the original idol in the Far East, through its many owners. The story is told linearly but by different narrators - a history of the stone pieced together, written by the one who had the most knowledge of events and people concerned with the stone at a given time. The way the narrators infiltrate their narratives with themselves is laudable. Collins did a fabulous job with both the writing and the story line - the cleverness of the detective is admirable, the true solution to the mystery is creative, and the stone's final resting place is surprising.
