8:20 a.m. - 2020-12-19
THE MOONSTONE AND SHERLOCK HOLMES
Edgar Allen Poe is generally credited with the invention of the detective story with "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" in 1841. Arthur Conan Doyle's publication of "A Study in Scarlet" in 1887 greatly expanded the popularity of the genre, but between the two, Wilkie Collins published the first full length mystery novel, "The Moonstone," in 1868. Conan Doyle's tremendous influence on detective fiction is beyond dispute, but much of what he accomplished was anticipated by Collins.
"The Moonstone" is an epistolary novel about the theft of the eponymous gem, first from a shrine in India, and later from a young English woman named Rachel Verinder. The theft occurs on her birthday at her mother's estate in Yorkshire in the 1840s. There is no shortage of suspects, but the discovery of the true culprit proves to be a long and complicated process.
"The Moonstone" is interesting in itself--it was once described as "probably the very finest detective story ever written" by none less than Dorothy L Sayers--but its possible influence on the creator of Sherlock Holmes, while speculative, is a topic worthy of consideration.
Collins used a device first introduced by Poe with August Dupin: the gifted and idiosyncratic detective whose investigative technique and insight is far superior to that of the local authorities. The morose, poker-faced Sergeant Cuff takes over the investigation from Superintendent Seegrave and seems destined to solve the crime until his actions are inhibited by his employer, Lady Verinder. Like Holmes, Cuff is able to compartmentalize, his favorite distraction being the growing of roses, while Holmes took solace in his violin.
Collins used multiple narrators for his novel, avoiding the omniscient third person and presenting his reader with often contrasting points of view. Doyle used Watson as his limited perspective witness, but additional voices were introduced through newspaper articles and the often lengthy background accounts provided by Holmes's clients. Think of Helen Stoner in "The Speckled Band," Dr Mortimer in "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and Violet Hunter in "The Copper Beeches."
A precious stone as the initiating element in the plot (the McGuffin) is echoed in "The Blue Carbuncle" and "The Mazarin Stone," while an exotic overseas origin for the sought object occurs in "The Sign of the Four." The latter work also features a locked room murder similar to that of Godfrey Ablewhite and a mysterious and threatening foreigner.
Gooseberry, the youthful agent employed by Lawyer Bruff, foreshadows Holmes's Baker Street Irregulars.
A perceived betrayal of trust as portrayed in Rachel Verinder's perception of Franklin Blake is a key element in "The Beryl Coronet," just as gambling debts as a potential motive play a role in that story and "The Empty House."
Holmes's use of opioids is shared by Ezra Jennings in "The Moonstone," though for different reasons, and laudanum plays a pivotal role in the plot of Collins's novel. Also, the idea of a principal character taking actions of which he has no memory (Blake again) is seen in "The Creeping Man," while a night watch to expose the true nature of the crime occurs repeatedly in the Holmes Canon ("The Speckled Band," "The Hound of the Baskervilles," "The Red-headed League.")
The use of disguises is a recurring theme in Doyle's work, but the particular revelation of one's identity by the dramatic removal of makeup in "The Man with the Twisted Lip" is also anticipated in "The Moonstone."
Rosanna Spearman serves the unenviable role of the obvious suspect in "The Moonstone," just as Arthur Holder in "The Beryl Coronet" and James McCarthy in "The Boscombe Valley Mystery." Her death in quicksand in a remote and desolate place is echoed by Stapleton's demise in "The Hound of the Baskervilles."
Given Doyle's interests and the temporal gap between his work and that of Collins, it seems likely that Sir Arthur would have had an opportunity to read "The Moonstone." As to how deeply it influenced him, that is purely a matter of conjecture, however intriguing.

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