The Moonstone

By: Wilkie Collins

Narrated by: Peter Jeffrey

Length: 18 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Exclusively from Audible

Considered the first full-length detective story in the English language, T.S. Eliot described The Moonstone as 'the first and greatest English detective novel'.

The stone of the title is an enormous yellow diamond plundered from an Indian shrine after the Siege of Seringapatam. Given to Miss Verinder on her 18th birthday, it mysteriously disappears that very night. Suspicion falls on three Indian jugglers who have been seen in the neighbourhood. Sergeant Cuff is assigned to the case and though it looks simple nothing can be taken for granted.

The story is recounted by several narrators including the bemused butler, the love-sick housemaid, the enigmatic detective Sergeant Cuff and the drug-addicted scientist, who in turn, speculate on the mystery.

This enthralling tale of romance, theft, and murder inspired the detective genre. In a sense, Collins wrote the rulebook on detective stories as many features of The Moonstone have become conventions in the literature of others.

Charles Dickens was a close friend and mentor of Collins, and the two collaborated together on drama and fiction. The Moonstone, as well as some of his other work, was first published in Dickens' journals.

Narrator Biography

Beginning his career on stage, Peter Jeffrey became a recognisable face on British television while enjoying thirty years with the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as working with all the other great British theatre companies. He was soon in demand for television character parts, playing roles in shows such as The Saint (1964-1965), The Avengers (1966-1968) and Doctor Who (1967 and 1978) as well as being involved in many BBC Radio 4 audio dramas such as The Pickwick Papers. Though a versatile actor, he was often cast in roles of authority such as Inspector Carter in Dixon of Dock Green (1966) but occasionally guest starred in comedy roles such as "Napper" Wainwright in Porridge (1975). He continued to act during his final years, with roles in the BBC adaptation of The Prince and the Pauper (1996), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1999) and Where the Heart Is (1999).

Public Domain (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Long - all entertaining.

Excellent narration. Pure fabulous storytelling. I listen in the background as I do other tasks, if that is your habit the story is for you.

much loved story with outstanding narration

The late, great Mr. Jeffries is now one of my favorite readers. I can't say enough about his beautiful, adaptable voice, or his exquisite timing and phrasing. This story is a glorious old favorite of mine, and this reader did it full justice. This audiobook is one of the greats!

Modern readers might keep in mind that this was written in the Victorian era, over 150 yrs ago: for a book of that period, it's exceptionally tightly written and fast-paced! This writer's language is among the most readable and modern-sounding to come out of that era, and he laid the groundwork for how mystery novels have been written ever since.

Wilkie Collins was a lawyer, and that precision and Socratic technique shows. Modern detective writers take the question-and-answer technique from Wilkie Collins and those who imitated him. It's a great device for detective novels.

This story's culture creates a novel which, by modern standards, unfolds rather slowly, but beautifully conveys the thinking and individual voices of the series of narrators. (I have to admit that I now skip over the second part of Miss Clack's wittering, until she gets all stroppy & reveals herself as, not cluelessly well-meaning, but as the bantam-minded little thug she really wants to be. XD! We've all known people like her.)

Put your feet up, relax, and enjoy the ride!

Implausible but Interesting

The story starts out very slow, but it does build and hold your interest once it gets going. I enjoyed the variety of the multiple narrator approach, although how blindly devoted some people are to other people is tiring and makes you sort of dislike people you're not supposed to dislike, though I suppose at least that keeps you suspecting everyone. I was impressed by how well the story keeps you guessing, though the solution ultimately feels a bit anticlimactic and ends up relying on a lot of coincidence and what modern eyes can see is a deeply flawed "scientific" experiment. On balance there are things to like and not to like, but I did find it interesting.

I was surprised how much I loved this!

I had no idea I was going to love this novel so much! Classics are hit or miss for me and epistolary novels are even more iffy for me, but I ended up devouring this as quickly as I was able given the constraints of my job. I listened to the audio narration by Peter Jeffrey, and read along with him whenever I could. I love reading books this way when I can, especially if the narration is good, because the voicing and accents add so much to the story. I can't tell you how many times I laughed out loud, especially during Miss Clack's part of the story.

This was a classic mystery novel before mystery novels became a thing. Heck, this was before systematic detection was a thing. There was certainly no such thing as crime labs, fingerprinting, let alone DNA evidence. I loved how our opening narrator, Betteredge, would mention getting caught up in mystery fever as I could totally understand it.

I loved the parallels that Collins drew between Rosanna and Rachel, and between Ezra and Franklin! It really added to the romance of the whole story. This was a story I went into knowing nothing about the book (I honestly thought it was going to be a murder mystery) and I have to say it was awesome trying to figure out what was going on and wondering where the heck the moonstone was. I had so much fun with this story and am so glad it came across my radar, first in the Lady Sherlock series by Sherry Thomas, and then in one of the reading groups I'm a part of. It makes me want to read the Woman in White next!

If you know nothing about this story, don't look anything up. Just dive in and have fun reading it and see if you can figure out what's going on. I won't say anymore as I don't want to spoil it for you!

One of my favorite books…

…made even more enjoyable by a fantastic performance by Peter Jeffrey. Thanks for making this available

Wonderful

This book is wonderful in it human observations. Betteredge is filled delightful touches of humor... all the characters are well painted and the narrator brings life to them individually and with nuance. Sure you can find fault with the different times if you choose, or you can 'overcome yiur reason' and discover a universality of human desires. it is interesting to think on our faults, desires or strengths of character may be invisible to ourselves but transparent to those wise people around us. I recommend without reservation.

i like this book

i enjoyed this book and the reader...i have read the hard copy before and wanted this to listen to while i knit...it did its job well! and his accent is so much better than mine!

One of my favorite Audiobooks

The narrator was wonderful and the story was interesting and highly enjoyable. The plot might be a bit slow and verbose for some people, but if you like a well turned phrase and detailed character depictions, you will like this aspect as much as I did. The narrator's reading and distinctive voices for the different characters was outstanding.

Definitely a Classic

I had read this book a long time ago, but I wanted to re-read it after reading the Woman in White recently. First, the narrator was great! I thought he did an excellent job of bringing the characters to life. There were times that I was giggling as Miss Clack or Betteredge were describing events. The story is a classic, so you should read it... especially if you are a fan of detective novels! However, the narrator definitely breathes life into the story. I was sucked in and couldn't wait to find out what happened next!

Great performance, but be ready for some sexism and racism

The book is a product of its time, but it’s not easy to listen to such blatant sexism and racism. If you can’t get past that you’ll enjoy this detective tale told in multiple narrative voices. Peter Jeffrey does a good job performing.