Author: EASTWICK, Mrs. Egerton.
Title: The Rubies of Rajmar or, Mr. Charlecote's Daughters. A romance.
Description: London, Newnes 1895. Octavo publisher's illustrated green cloth (a touch dusty). A rather good copy. Eight page publisher's list at the end announcing this as just ready. ¶ First edition of this jewel ridden thriller of murder and interracial marriage. The Guardian was kind "There is plenty of sensation ... mysterious Indians and secret passages, and ... a murder, and altogether the authoress contrives to keep up a most praiseworthy atmosphere of creepiness throughout the book." The Athenaeum was more guarded - "not without interest, and the sense of mystery is fairly well sustained" - but not cruel. Unlike H.G. Wells in the Saturday Review: "Mrs. Eastwick imitating Wilkie Collins is quite unforgivable." The usually reliable Spectator shocked me, the staff must have been on a bender: "A story, indeed, that is readable from the first page to the last, disarms criticism".

Keywords: literature fiction thrillers mystery crime detective c19th England