The vengeance of the opium

We come to the end of The Moonstone and the end of this FANTASTIC readalong. I would firstly and foremostly(?) say that this as been stupendously fun. And yes, Wilkie gets some credit for that because that man can write a mystery. But most of that has come from everyone playing along and being the definition of awesome* with all the gifs and the comments and everything. You guys rule. And if you didn't get a chance to play along this time I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Now onto the last part of The Moonstone and there's going to be spoilers because MYSTERIES ARE FINALLY SOLVED.

I went with that title quote because it could have served as the subtitle for this book. Except that would have been all spoiler-y, so good choice on Wilkster's part in not doing that.Whoever guessed that Dr. Candy drugged Franklin, ten points! And he didn't do it for any awful reasons. He didn't even want to embarrass Franklin. He just wanted him to admit that sometimes you need medicine and thought drugging him with opium would be the best way to prove that. Alright, so maybe not the BEST idea but nothing sinister in those motives.

Rachel never gets to be our Marian probably because a) we never get to hear HER narrative and b) she was like 18 and needs to stop being a teenager to reach Marian levels of greatness. But there is hope for her. Because how sweet was it when Jennings told her "oh hai, so Franklin was high as a kite that night and honestly didn't know what he was going. I'm going to do a whole experiment that's really not that sound to prove it so..." and before he could finish she's like "I'LL BE RIGHT THERE!"
She just wanted the littlest excuse to believe that Franklin didn't do it. Or did it but didn't know he did it at least.

Anyone else think Jennings was going to be evil? Especially when he startled Franklin leaving the doc? Way to teach me not to judge a book by it's cover, Wilkie. And instead he's SO SWEET and SO TRAGIC. I wish we got to learn more about him and the things he did and his love.

In a small way, I kinda don't blame Godfrey for taking the diamond. Because of course he's the one who took the diamond to London. But he was having all these money problems and Franklin literally HANDED HIM THE DIAMOND. Maybe he even convinced himself it was fate.
That doesn't make what he did right and that doesn't make him less of a douchenozzle for the whole "trying to marry Rachel for money" thing or "probably defrauding those lady charities" things. Yeah, he deserved jail and a lifetime of loneliness but not smothered to death.

And Cuff comes back! Although he doesn't really do too much other than perform his little detective magic trick. Writing down who he THINKS stole the diamond in an envelope to be opened later. Guess what, Cuff. WE ALL THOUGHT GODFREY DID  IT. All that gardening has made you soft, sir.

One last thing. The Indians got their Moonstone back. Happy endings for everyone! Except Godfrey. And Rosanna. And Lady V. And Limpin' Lucy. And Jennings. OK so happy endings for some. Death for a bunch of other people. But Franklin & Rachel get together and they have a baby because Robinson Crusoe said so.

*In both the hot dog and space version of the word.

Title quote from page 210, location 6728

Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone. Public domain books, published 2012. Originally published 1868