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The Diamond Master
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
222 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1909
97 people are currently reading
187 people want to read
About the author
Jacques Futrelle
244 books30 followersJacques Heath Futrelle (1875-1912) was an American journalist and mystery writer. He is best known for writing short detective stories featuring the "Thinking Machine", Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen. He worked for the Atlanta Journal, where he began their sports section; the New York Herald; the Boston Post; and the Boston American. In 1905, his Thinking Machine character first appeared in a serialized version of The Problem of Cell 13. In 1895, he married fellow writer Lily May Peel, with whom he had two children. While returning from Europe aboard the RMS Titanic, Futrelle, a first-cabin passenger, refused to board a lifeboat insisting his wife board instead. He perished in the Atlantic. His works include: The Chase of the Golden Plate (1906), The Simple Case of Susan (1908), The Thinking Machine on the Case (1908), The Diamond Master (1909), Elusive Isabel (1909), The High Hand (1911), My Lady's Garter (1912), Blind Man's Bluff (1914).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
May 9, 2023
I should have done more homework before listening to this audiobook, as I was a little disappointed that Futrelle's famous detective Professor Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen, "The Thinking Machine", doesn't appear in it. But that's on me. It's an entertaining enough short mystery featuring a threat to the global diamond market, murder, theft, blackmail, love, and the latest technology of 1909.
March 29, 2016
Random find, a freebie, so sure, why not. Turns out this was a pleasant surprise, nice short mystery. Really nice premise, a treat of too many diamonds, fairly reasonable resolution. The first half of the story more fun than the last, but the best thing about this novella was its charm. Old, but not dated in a tedious way, the writing was very enjoyable plus it was good to be reminded that once upon a time mysteries were solved without all the advantages of modern technology. Fun quick read of a bygone era's crime and detection.
December 2, 2017
Short novel which was free to download.
I did not enjoy this much. The plot was pretty obvious and there was no real detection involved.
Am I alone in finding the attempts to render "German-English/American" just as demeaning and insulting as the casual or overt racism often found in novels of this period?
Only of real interest to Futrelle-completists.
I did not enjoy this much. The plot was pretty obvious and there was no real detection involved.
Am I alone in finding the attempts to render "German-English/American" just as demeaning and insulting as the casual or overt racism often found in novels of this period?
Only of real interest to Futrelle-completists.
August 21, 2013
A diamond is delivered to a jeweller in quite an unusual manner and he soon finds out that four other jewellers received similar packages. There's then a quest to find out the source of these gems and much adventure is involved; murder, love, science, engineering, and even homing pigeons...
October 20, 2014
The book begins with a gem merchant being sent, anonymously, a very large and flawless diamond; shortly thereafter, he discovers that several of his colleagues received identical gifts. The mystery of who sent them is swiftly resolved, and for the rest of the book we are left to wonder where these diamonds -- which have not been imported, of which there are too many to have smuggled in without attracting attention, and which are unlikely to have come from within the country as the US is not a major diamond producer -- are coming from.
It's an entertaining enough yarn, but is an unfortunate example of a story that has not aged well. Jacques Futrelle wrote The Diamond Master in 1909. At the time, there had been many attempts to create synthetic diamonds, some of them even successful. These experiments, however, could not be replicated reliably and generally produced very small stones. At the time, it would have been perfectly inconceivable to the reader that diamonds of any size, much less gem-quality, could be manufactured.
Now? Not so much. Gem-quality diamonds were first synthesized in 1970. Lab-created gemstones, in general terms, are relatively common these days. And thus, a modern reader will probably have some concept of the solution to the conundrum. This wouldn't entirely spoil the story, though, if handled in a particular way. Unfortunately, Futrelle chooses to be reasonably explicit about how the mysterious diamonds are created, as though putting forth his own proposal for such a process. While the process itself is not generally unreasonable and in fact does bear some resemblance to actual diamond-synthesizing processes, the results are too-obviously impossible exaggerations. (25 carats was the largest synthetic stone I could find a reference for; at one point in the story, a synthetic replica of the Koh-i-Noor is produced, and it's better than four times that size.) Suspension of disbelief becomes difficult under those circumstances.
Even so, it's really a fairly interesting read... until the final chapter. When the process was explained, I felt disappointed, like there should be something more. It's not really Futrelle's fault as such; as I said, this would've been a much more suspensful piece in his own time. Problem is, I don't live in his time, and I do have this knowledge, and that changes how I experience the work. It was fun enough, but I won't be revisiting it anytime soon.
It's an entertaining enough yarn, but is an unfortunate example of a story that has not aged well. Jacques Futrelle wrote The Diamond Master in 1909. At the time, there had been many attempts to create synthetic diamonds, some of them even successful. These experiments, however, could not be replicated reliably and generally produced very small stones. At the time, it would have been perfectly inconceivable to the reader that diamonds of any size, much less gem-quality, could be manufactured.
Now? Not so much. Gem-quality diamonds were first synthesized in 1970. Lab-created gemstones, in general terms, are relatively common these days. And thus, a modern reader will probably have some concept of the solution to the conundrum. This wouldn't entirely spoil the story, though, if handled in a particular way. Unfortunately, Futrelle chooses to be reasonably explicit about how the mysterious diamonds are created, as though putting forth his own proposal for such a process. While the process itself is not generally unreasonable and in fact does bear some resemblance to actual diamond-synthesizing processes, the results are too-obviously impossible exaggerations. (25 carats was the largest synthetic stone I could find a reference for; at one point in the story, a synthetic replica of the Koh-i-Noor is produced, and it's better than four times that size.) Suspension of disbelief becomes difficult under those circumstances.
Even so, it's really a fairly interesting read... until the final chapter. When the process was explained, I felt disappointed, like there should be something more. It's not really Futrelle's fault as such; as I said, this would've been a much more suspensful piece in his own time. Problem is, I don't live in his time, and I do have this knowledge, and that changes how I experience the work. It was fun enough, but I won't be revisiting it anytime soon.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 1, 2020
That was an interesting story. I wasn’t entirely sure what the mystery was going to be, and neither did our characters. Was it blackmail? Is this man just a con-artist or thief extraordinaire? How can he keep fooling every detective sent to trap him? Who is he? Where is his extraordinary wealth coming from?
I was completely caught off by guard by that twist. Actually, it was a little too abrupt. I was lost for a while as to what was going on. Then finally we start to get a few hints of the marvelous secret that lies behind all the mystery and tragedy. The whole book has a fun super-villain or super-brain vibe.
I enjoyed it even if it was pretty predictable. I wish I could talk about the ending, but I can. That would just spoil too much. You’ll just have to read it yourself.
I was completely caught off by guard by that twist. Actually, it was a little too abrupt. I was lost for a while as to what was going on. Then finally we start to get a few hints of the marvelous secret that lies behind all the mystery and tragedy. The whole book has a fun super-villain or super-brain vibe.
I enjoyed it even if it was pretty predictable. I wish I could talk about the ending, but I can. That would just spoil too much. You’ll just have to read it yourself.
February 15, 2014
This book by Jacques Futrelle is a treat to read. It was roughly written in the same period of time in which the Sherlock Holmes stories were written. No DNA, no fingerprints, but deduction only. The story is not very surprising, but nevertheless it contains some surprising elements. The writing is entertaining and good. I can recommend it
The author Jaques Futrelle died in 1912 on the Titanic.
The author Jaques Futrelle died in 1912 on the Titanic.
June 9, 2022
Lanjut baca karya Futrelle yang diterbitkan Laksana. Jika sebelum ini ada pencurian piring emas, kali ini ada "penipuan" perdagangan berlian. Seperti sebelumnya, aku suka premise awalnya, alur cerita dan misterinya. Penyelesainnya b aja. Dan karakterisasi ceweknya masiihhh nyebelin, menye-menye 'mau ikutan rencana jual beli berlian kok gak bisa mikir sama sekali'.
Alurnya lumayan, apalagi saat ada twist di mana rencana mereka gak berlangsung mulus, dan tiba-tiba berlian kasar yang akan dijual muncul di rumah gadai. Aku suka bagian mengagetkan ini plus adegan Wynne dan Czenki berimpromtu dengan selaras sekali. Sip.
Endingnya, yah begitulah. Aku gak terlalu teryakinkan dengan bagian scifi-nya, agak terlalu maksa imo. Kalau boleh rekom novel tentang penipuan berlian, aku milih If Tomorrow Comes dari Sidney Sheldon. Ini long con-nya oke, karakterisasi fl dan ml-nya juga sejajar dan sederajat.
Edisi laksana ini penerjemahannya bagus, mengalir lancar dan enak dibaca. Covernya... eaaa, minimalis sekaleee ;')
Alurnya lumayan, apalagi saat ada twist di mana rencana mereka gak berlangsung mulus, dan tiba-tiba berlian kasar yang akan dijual muncul di rumah gadai. Aku suka bagian mengagetkan ini plus adegan Wynne dan Czenki berimpromtu dengan selaras sekali. Sip.
Endingnya, yah begitulah. Aku gak terlalu teryakinkan dengan bagian scifi-nya, agak terlalu maksa imo. Kalau boleh rekom novel tentang penipuan berlian, aku milih If Tomorrow Comes dari Sidney Sheldon. Ini long con-nya oke, karakterisasi fl dan ml-nya juga sejajar dan sederajat.
Edisi laksana ini penerjemahannya bagus, mengalir lancar dan enak dibaca. Covernya... eaaa, minimalis sekaleee ;')
Read
January 22, 2025My third diamond industry murder mystery, "Slay It With a Diamond", has just come out (see bio for details), so I’m reading, and reviewing, a lot of classic diamond- and jewelry-related mystery books.
This is a fun and pleasant, if slight, book, by an author who may be best known for dying on the Titanic. There’s two mysteries here: who done it, and where did they get the diamonds. The answer to the second is rather obvious, at least to people familiar with recent events in the diamond industry, and the answer to the first is not anything that will keep you up late at night. My favorite parts involved the interplay between the detectives and the man they’re following.
I called this book pleasant, but there’s two unpleasant moments, even by the standards of 100-year-old books, which I need to call out. The first comes when a character bring an item to a pawnbroker, and addresses him as “Jew.” The second is a loving paean to police brutality. Did those things happen regularly back then? Actually, I don’t want to know.
Otherwise, this was decent and diverting, if too dated to rate. Since I got it for free, I can't really complain.
This is a fun and pleasant, if slight, book, by an author who may be best known for dying on the Titanic. There’s two mysteries here: who done it, and where did they get the diamonds. The answer to the second is rather obvious, at least to people familiar with recent events in the diamond industry, and the answer to the first is not anything that will keep you up late at night. My favorite parts involved the interplay between the detectives and the man they’re following.
I called this book pleasant, but there’s two unpleasant moments, even by the standards of 100-year-old books, which I need to call out. The first comes when a character bring an item to a pawnbroker, and addresses him as “Jew.” The second is a loving paean to police brutality. Did those things happen regularly back then? Actually, I don’t want to know.
Otherwise, this was decent and diverting, if too dated to rate. Since I got it for free, I can't really complain.
September 24, 2017
I am a big fan of Jacques Futrelle's Thinking Machine stories but this short novel wasn't nearly as enjoyable for me. The premise is quite intriguing - a process is invented to artificially create diamonds - but Futrelle doesn't carry out that concept very effectively. The cast is divided into two groups: The representatives of the Diamond Trust who will be ruined if artificial jewels flood the market, and the young newlyweds who are demanding $100,000,000.00 to destroy the diamond making machine they control. None of them is either interesting or sympathetic, to this reader at least, and I'm afraid I can't recommend this story to anyone but the most devoted of Futrelle admirers. (2.5 stars)
August 14, 2017
A young self-assured businessman shows up and makes a proposition to the top diamond jewelers in New York City. He wants them to come up with a $100 million to buy his special diamonds. But there is a catch. There are no records on where these beautiful, unusual diamonds came from after they checked all shipping logs. The mystery continues and then a murder leads them on an even deeper search for the truth. Read The Diamond Master by Jacques Futrelle and discover the answer to the riddle. The author, Mr. Futrelle actually died on the historic Titanic after putting his writer-wife on a lifeboat but he left us this gem of a story behind!
June 2, 2022
Jacques Futrelle is a master
I was first introduced to Jacques Firewood thru his Thinking Machine stories. He was a great detective story writer. He died too soon with the sinking of the Titanic.
I was first introduced to Jacques Firewood thru his Thinking Machine stories. He was a great detective story writer. He died too soon with the sinking of the Titanic.
October 10, 2024
Great little read!
The author was referenced in an Arthur C. Clarke novel I was reading (The Ghost from the Grand Banks), so thought I’d take a look - found a few that were free to download and this one looked intriguing.
The author was referenced in an Arthur C. Clarke novel I was reading (The Ghost from the Grand Banks), so thought I’d take a look - found a few that were free to download and this one looked intriguing.
July 17, 2018
Decent beginning, with a bit of suspense and wonder, but the ending totally sucked. It’s like the author didn’t quite know what to do so just ended it as quickly as possible.
January 19, 2021
Remember that this was written in 1909.
January 14, 2024
Un giallo classico molto appassionante un autore da scoprire scomparso purtroppo prematuramente.
March 13, 2018
3.25 stars (liked it)
A simply written but enjoyable 1909 story that nicely blends the study of gemology and the economics of diamond market with a classic mystery as several jewellers receive identical diamonds by mail.
A simply written but enjoyable 1909 story that nicely blends the study of gemology and the economics of diamond market with a classic mystery as several jewellers receive identical diamonds by mail.
July 9, 2013
This novella/long-ish short story shares a macguffin with F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'Diamond as Big as the Ritz', namely that a sudden glut of diamonds in the world will potentially ruin all those with a vested interest in that market.
In Futrelle's version, we have a neat tale of extortion and murder, cops and robbers, in which all ends well for the goodies, and with a cruel twist of irony for the perp.
Perhaps more a literary exercise than a work of art - but it's well done, and diverting enough.
In Futrelle's version, we have a neat tale of extortion and murder, cops and robbers, in which all ends well for the goodies, and with a cruel twist of irony for the perp.
Perhaps more a literary exercise than a work of art - but it's well done, and diverting enough.
October 22, 2007
after finishing this novel i found the ending is rather dissapointing. oh well. but still, in a sweet way, this is a simple mystery novel. i have the 'mistake' of reading this after watching the movie blood diamond and well, it makes the reading much more interesting (with images of a bloodied Leonardo DiCaprio on the background).
May 19, 2013
Since I am related to the author, Jacques Futrelle, I thought I would read some of his stories. This was the first story of his I got the chance to read. I am so proud to say that he is my relative! This was only one of his multiple works, and I loved every word of it!
March 29, 2016
Interesting short novel. I enjoyed most of it, but thought the detectives were rather stupid and the ending was a bit disappointing. Good example of a classic mystery. I need to read his Thinking Machine novels.
June 17, 2012
Ok...we know who committed the murder (which seemed like a side story), but what about the diamonds? The murder gets solved but the main question about the diamonds is left open.
October 18, 2012
Not a bad novel- Futrelle's character drawing is sharper than usual and there is more action. This is his best work aside from the thinking Machine stories.
August 9, 2014
A nice pleasant enough read if slightly dated.
December 31, 2015
Somewhat predictable, and not as gripping as it could have been.
April 7, 2016
Interesting
This is definitely a period piece and interesting. The story and the characters reflect the time. The ending is rather complex.
This is definitely a period piece and interesting. The story and the characters reflect the time. The ending is rather complex.
April 22, 2016
Futrelle never disappoints. The basis for this short book may be a bit far-fetched, but the writing, plotting, pacing, and characters are pure Futrelle.
June 18, 2016
Engaging yarn. Supports looking for more by him. Not meaty enough for the "To be Re-read" shelf.
February 1, 2017
Not my cup of tea
I knew where this was going, and I didn't finish it. After confirming how the rouse was operating, I was finished with it. It is an interesting story.
I knew where this was going, and I didn't finish it. After confirming how the rouse was operating, I was finished with it. It is an interesting story.
April 29, 2017
Entertains mystery
Fun mystery story about the beginning of fake diamonds. If man could make a fake diamond that looked real enough would it destroy the diamond market???
Fun mystery story about the beginning of fake diamonds. If man could make a fake diamond that looked real enough would it destroy the diamond market???
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews