Customer Reviews

The Diamond Master

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the first book by Jacques Futrelle I have read so far, and it's a fairly unique mystery. I had read the short story "Problem of Cell 13" right before this one and was interested in reading more Thinking Machine mysteries. As it turns out, this is not about the Thinking Machine, though it is an interesting read. The book begins with a perfect diamond being delivered to an expert diamond dealer. There is no return address, no note explaning the mysterious appearance of the valuable diamond. It is estimated to be worth millions. Later he discover that not only has a diamond been sent to him, but to four other American diamond dealers. All the diamonds match perfectly, even the top diamond expert can't tell one from another. Who sent them? Why? He places detectives on the job. No diamonds matching the description have been imported from any other country. Were they smuggled? or is there some other explanation? Read and find out!

While in high school (1960's), I become engrossed with the THINKING MACHINE short stories of Jacques Futrelle. In my search for more, I found THE LEAK and THE DIAMOND MASTER on Amazon. The price was perfect. With a Kindle, the price was zero.

THE DIAMOND MASTER does not include Futrelle's character Augustus S.F.X Dusenm Ph.D.,LL.D.,F.R.X.,MD, but the storyline is very much in the "Thinking Machine" tradition.

I evaluate stories by answering two questions: First, does the storyline distract me from the exercise machine that I am using while reading the book. For me, the answer was YES. So, that's good. Second, could I figure the ending. Well, sort of. But I needed to finish the novel to make sure I was correct. So that's good.

In the end, THE DIAMOND MASTER is a good read - especially considering the price!

How would you like to pay $70 for a paperback book less than 200 pages? if so, go ahead and buy this pathetic item. Although the story is good, the advertisement I read implies other stories by this author are included in the book, and why not, for $70 and a paperback to boot. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice....well, you know the rest. Don't bother buying this item.