Kalamdan

Wilkie Collins

The Moonstone

Mystery, Thriller and Adventure

Cover of The Moonstone

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Language
English
First published
1868
Reading time
847 minutes
Chapters
52 chapters

About this book

On her eighteenth birthday Rachel Verinder is given a huge yellow diamond, looted in India and said to bring misfortune to whoever keeps it.

By the next morning it has vanished from her room. Wilkie Collins's 1868 novel follows the search through the written accounts of several witnesses, from an old house-steward who lives by Robinson Crusoe to a famous detective who would rather talk about roses. Often called the first full-length detective novel in English, it is long, funny and full of surprises, so settle in and enjoy the voices.

I address these lines—written in India—to my relatives in England.

Prologue

About this edition

  • Source

    Project Gutenberg (eBook #155)

    Text version

    Project Gutenberg eBook #155 (updated 10 January 2026), downloaded 7 November 2026. The file contains none of the author's prefaces. The title page, the contents list, the closing word "FINIS" and the book's separate structural lines ("THE STORY", the period and narrative labels and every "CHAPTER n") were not imported: instead each chapter heading names the period, the narrative and its narrator, and the numbered sections of the prologue, the sixth narrative and the epilogue are shown as section breaks. The text itself, with the book's subtitles and Collins's own notes, is unchanged.

  • License

    Public domain

    Copyright status last verified: 9 November 2026

  • Category

    Mystery, Thriller and Adventure

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Chapters

52 chapters
  1. Prologue10 min
  2. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter I5 min
  3. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter II9 min
  4. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter III13 min
  5. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter IV15 min
  6. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter V14 min
  7. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter VI20 min
  8. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter VII8 min
  9. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter VIII20 min
  10. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter IX12 min
  11. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter X21 min
  12. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter XI35 min
  13. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter XII20 min
  14. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter XIII11 min
  15. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter XIV15 min
  16. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter XV25 min
  17. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter XVI17 min
  18. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter XVII12 min
  19. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter XVIII12 min
  20. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter XIX9 min
  21. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter XX6 min
  22. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter XXI18 min
  23. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter XXII16 min
  24. First Period (Betteredge), Chapter XXIII21 min
  25. Second Period, First Narrative (Miss Clack), Chapter I20 min
  26. Second Period, First Narrative (Miss Clack), Chapter II19 min
  27. Second Period, First Narrative (Miss Clack), Chapter III18 min
  28. Second Period, First Narrative (Miss Clack), Chapter IV15 min
  29. Second Period, First Narrative (Miss Clack), Chapter V15 min
  30. Second Period, First Narrative (Miss Clack), Chapter VI3 min
  31. Second Period, First Narrative (Miss Clack), Chapter VII19 min
  32. Second Period, First Narrative (Miss Clack), Chapter VIII26 min
  33. Second Period, Second Narrative (Mr Bruff), Chapter I20 min
  34. Second Period, Second Narrative (Mr Bruff), Chapter II9 min
  35. Second Period, Second Narrative (Mr Bruff), Chapter III18 min
  36. Second Period, Third Narrative (Franklin Blake), Chapter I9 min
  37. Second Period, Third Narrative (Franklin Blake), Chapter II12 min
  38. Second Period, Third Narrative (Franklin Blake), Chapter III14 min
  39. Second Period, Third Narrative (Franklin Blake), Chapter IV26 min
  40. Second Period, Third Narrative (Franklin Blake), Chapter V16 min
  41. Second Period, Third Narrative (Franklin Blake), Chapter VI17 min
  42. Second Period, Third Narrative (Franklin Blake), Chapter VII24 min
  43. Second Period, Third Narrative (Franklin Blake), Chapter VIII24 min
  44. Second Period, Third Narrative (Franklin Blake), Chapter IX27 min
  45. Second Period, Third Narrative (Franklin Blake), Chapter X25 min
  46. Second Period, Fourth Narrative (Ezra Jennings), part 1 of 253 min
  47. Second Period, Fourth Narrative (Ezra Jennings), part 2 of 212 min
  48. Second Period, Fifth Narrative (Franklin Blake)32 min
  49. Second Period, Sixth Narrative (Sergeant Cuff)20 min
  50. Second Period, Seventh Narrative (Mr Candy)4 min
  51. Second Period, Eighth Narrative (Betteredge)4 min
  52. Epilogue10 min

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