"The Moonstone" is Wilkie Collins' 1868 British epistolary novel. A young English woman called Rachel Verinder inherits a sizable Indian diamond from her uncle on her eighteenth birthday. The diamond is an object of considerable religious importance, the recovery of which is the object of three Hindu priests' life-long mission. When the jewel is spotted on her person by an Indian Juggler, it is stolen, and an uncanny bout of sadness and bad luck ensues. This book is widely considered to be the first English detective novel, and will appeal to those with an interest in gripping fiction of this ilk. William Wilkie Collins (1824 - 1889) was an English novelist and playwright most famous for writing "The Woman in White". Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now, in an affordable, high-quality, modern edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned biography of the author.