The Diamond Pin

Wells, Carolyn, 1862-1942Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 327K words
Chapters: 33

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Diamond Pin by Carolyn WellsAuthor: Wells, Carolyn, 1862-1942,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jan 21, 2011

Editor's review

This work is a detective novel of the kind Carolyn Wells excelled at, built around the theft or mystery of a diamond pin, with a tight plot and the classic pleasures of Golden Age detection. Wells was a prolific genre novelist in the early twentieth century, and her narratives tend to be brisk, emphasizing puzzle design and witty dialogue; readers can enjoy the puzzle in a relatively short space. This edition comes from Project Gutenberg as a public-domain eBook, with the text in English, making it a suitable introduction to early American detective fiction. It is not meant to be heavy reading; it works better in short stretches on a commute or before bed, reading while noting how clues are planted and how characters relate. For readers curious about the tradition of popular English-language detective fiction or looking for an easy entry into reading in English, this little book offers a light way in.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy classic detective fiction and prefer a short, brisk pace
Learners who want light original English books for reading practice
Literature fans interested in early twentieth-century American popular fiction
Readers who need fragmented reading material for commutes or bedtime

Not a good fit for

Detective readers expecting modern hard-boiled crime or dense twists
Beginners who need a Chinese translation or detailed annotations
Readers who prefer serious literature and deep engagement with social issues

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the puzzle and character relationships, then go back to see where key clues were planted.
Keep paper and pen to note characters and suspicious details, which helps keep up with the pacing.
When English reading gets difficult, focus first on dialogue and action, skipping unfamiliar adjectives.
Read it alongside other Golden Age short detective fiction to compare how puzzles are designed.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English? How difficult is it to read?

The text is in English, from a public-domain eBook via Project Gutenberg. The language is generally popular narrative, with short sentences, but it carries early twentieth-century phrasing and some old-fashioned vocabulary. Readers with intermediate English can finish it with a dictionary, while beginners may need support tools.

I haven't read other works by the author. Can I start with this one?

Yes. It is a standalone detective novel that does not depend on prior background. Readers can simply follow the mystery and character relationships as they unfold, without knowing the author's other works or series characters in advance.

Is this book suitable for learning English?

It can serve as extensive reading material. It is short and plot-driven, so it is easy to finish. But it contains old-fashioned vocabulary and period background, so it is not recommended as your only textbook; pair it with modern English materials and focus on learning common expressions from the dialogue.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Wells, Carolyn, 1862-1942 Author

Carolyn Wells (1862-1942) was an American author. Public information on her life and education is limited, yet the 58 works held in this collection attest to the breadth of her output. Her subjects range widely: detective novels such as A Chain of Evidence, The Room with the Tassels, The Luminous Face, and The Vanishing of Betty Varian, which rely on carefully planted clues and mounting mystery, sit alongside parodic and light-hearted pieces like The Re-echo Club and The Lover's Baedeker and Guide to Arcady, while Rubáiyát of a Motor Car shows her knack for blending humor with popular themes. She was skilled at building suspense and layering twists, writing with wit and briskness, and combining popular entertainment with literary playfulness—earning her a place in the early twentieth-century Anglophone popular literary scene.