So I finally finished reading this classic Gothic novel, supposedly the first detective novel ever written. Here’s what I thought of it:
This is a long book — 423 pages in my Kindle adaptation — and it does take time to wade through the antique language and finish it. That’s the main obstacle, in fact: the archaic writing style and wordage. It takes some time to “get into” the book at the beginning, for it starts before the main crime even takes place, explaining (in quite a bit of detail) how the famed jewel of the title came to be in the hands of the Englishman who begins the whole sordid story.
Once you get into the style, it’s not so bad. I really liked some of the characters in the story: the butler, Betteridge, with his insistence that the novel Robinson Crusoe contained all the knowledge a man ever needs (as well as foretelling the future if you knew how to read it), the wishy-washy nephew, Franklin Blake, and especially the detective, Sergeant Cuff. There are some sad bits, as one of the household staff commits suicide halfway through the book, and there’s a good bit of romantic angst.
As to the detecting, it’s nowhere near as exciting as one of today’s detective novels. The characters thoroughly detail every action taken, often with a bit too much exposition for my taste, but then, I’ve become used to today’s fast-paced stories lately. There are an awfully lot of steps they must take in order to track down the jewel and figure out who actually stole it in the first place. There are red herrings and pointed fingers and a lot of potential and actual scandal. The two young would-be lovers are kept apart until the final chapter of the book (of course) and after that, there are several appendices detailing what went on after they reconciled.
All in all, I’d say it”s worth a read if you’re looking for a traditional Gothic novel. It has all the bells and whistles — because it invented them of course: an isolated English country house, a large cast of possible suspects, a locked-room mystery, mysterious foreigners galore, a priceless gemstone with a spooky history, young love thwarted, and a satisfying ending where everything is wrapped up nicely. Prepare for a slog, though, because of the archaic language and storytelling techniques (and the overall length of the thing).