I listened to the audiobook on Hoopla narrated by The Moonstone Cast. We hear from multiple people involved in the mystery of the lost Moonstone giving a written report. Wilkie Collins was a contemporary of Charles Dickens and like many of his stories this was released originally in serialized form. First there is a brief history about the gem being stolen from a Hindu god statue in India, but it was forgettable. The largest report of events is given by Betteredge, the head of staff at an English country summer home. He treats Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe as a sacred text. His report with all the exposition takes up half of the total book. He introduces detective Sergeant Cuff, a precursor to Sherlock Holmes, about half way through his report. By coincidence, I watched the Netflix series The Residence with Detective Cupp around the same time. Weird name similarity. I almost quit a couple times through this first half. Betteredge is too long-winded. Part two begins with a report by Ms. Clack. Yay, I thought, a new voice. But she is a religious meddler, who also is too long-winded. I wish both these narrators had shorter reports. When Bruff, the lawyer or solicitor, begins his report the plot finally gets moving. We hear from Franklin Blake, a major suspect, a Dr. Jennings, and Sergeant Cuff amongst others. The twists and turns of the mystery are surprising here toward the end. To sum up, I just wish the exposition full of misleading details to misdirect the reader was not so long.
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