The first detective mystery novel? Yes, and still one of the best. Wilkie Collins was a contemporary of Charles Dickens. This novel has all the aspects of a good mystery. Interesting plot (the moonstone is a stolen diamond), a series of interesting characters, blind alleys, red herrings, unexpected twists and turns, and so on and so forth.
It's told in an interesting way - first person serial. Each character tells their part of the story from the first person perspective. This is a seldom-used method of writing the novel, later to be made famous by William Faulkner in As I Lay Dying.
The only thing that is a little dated is the presence of opium in the plot - understandable since Collins was an addict. I suppose he was writing from personal experience. The treatment of opium seems naive, but what can you expect from the nineteenth century.
Highly recommended, and much more readable than some of the Dickens' novels.
Link to Amazon: The Moonstone (Modern Library Classics)
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