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The Orange-Yellow Diamond
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A must-read for classic mystery and adventure fans!
A must-read for classic mystery and adventure fans!
236 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1920
16 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
About the author
J.S. Fletcher
543 books56 followersJoseph Smith Fletcher was an English journalist, writer, and fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He studied law before turning to journalism.
His literary career spanned approximately 200 books on a wide variety of subjects including fiction, non-fiction, histories, historical fiction, and mysteries. He was known as one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the Golden Age .
His literary career spanned approximately 200 books on a wide variety of subjects including fiction, non-fiction, histories, historical fiction, and mysteries. He was known as one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the Golden Age .
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
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January 2, 2019This 20s-written murder mystery set in London manages the feat of being both impressively diverse and hugely racist. On the one hand a terrific lower-class Jewish amateur detective is the unquestionable hero and intellectual centre of the whole thing and stars in the happy ending; on the other, Horrendous Stereotype Klaxon. Let's not even talk about the Chinese opium den and eye-watering narrative treatment of Asian people. All which said, I don't know if this book featuring a London full of thriving immigrants (Maltese, Scots, Burmese, Japanese, South Africans, many of them not actually murderers despite the book's high body count) is actually much more offensive than modern historicals that present London as all-white and predominantly upper class plus servants. At least this one recognises that other people and classes exist.
August 19, 2024
I don’t know how much time the author wasted writing this novel, but I do know that I wasted 11 1/2 hours listening to it! I’ve read and enjoyed a half-dozen of his 40-plus novels. In fact, I have ranked him among my favourite authors. I always look forward to reading another but he really missed the mark with this one!
I was never able to get my bearings with the story. The convoluted plot required the introduction, every few chapters, of one or more new characters. Some of these people had “critical” information which changed the course of the investigation. Others had themselves been involved in the ever-evolving series of crimes. The entrance of each of these new folk also required that a summary of the case-to-date be presented to the entire group of informants and pseudo-investigators, resulting in the repetition of a muddle of names, events and locations — ad infinitum and ad nauseam.
There were too many crimes and too many amateurs involved in a pretense of investigation, while the only official police detective seemed merely to follow one of these amateurs around like a lost sheep. The “police presence” became quite a joke. I guess that was the only laughable thing about this novel. All in all, this was a painful reading experience which ought to have been relegated to the DNF shelf!
I was never able to get my bearings with the story. The convoluted plot required the introduction, every few chapters, of one or more new characters. Some of these people had “critical” information which changed the course of the investigation. Others had themselves been involved in the ever-evolving series of crimes. The entrance of each of these new folk also required that a summary of the case-to-date be presented to the entire group of informants and pseudo-investigators, resulting in the repetition of a muddle of names, events and locations — ad infinitum and ad nauseam.
There were too many crimes and too many amateurs involved in a pretense of investigation, while the only official police detective seemed merely to follow one of these amateurs around like a lost sheep. The “police presence” became quite a joke. I guess that was the only laughable thing about this novel. All in all, this was a painful reading experience which ought to have been relegated to the DNF shelf!
March 6, 2012
The mystery in The Orange-Yellow Diamond is actually quite good. The characters are also by and large engaging and interesting. However, this book was written in 1921 Britain, and it features Chinese, Japanese and Jewish people. The prejudicial stereotypes of the day really made me wince on many occasions. Even then it had to have been perjorative to call Chinese people "Chinks" and Japanese people "Japs." That the police and other crime solvers (mostly Jewish characters) do it here is a problem. This is the fourth J.S. Fletcher novel I've read, and the only one so far that is so unacceptably prejudiced for the contemporary reader.
January 30, 2014
Another good read by Fletcher. Many previous reviews have mentioned the stereotyping of the different races and nationalities but based on the time frame of turn of the century, I found this made it more believable for the era. One cannot expect today's standards to apply in a book written so long ago.
January 14, 2014
Un guazzabuglio di indizi, un'infinità di personaggi e una moltitudine di cittadini che offrono tracce che hanno visto o sentito che riconoscono questo o quello.
La storia non gode molta credibilità nel suo insieme e le indagini vengono condotte in modo molto poco ortodosso: tutti vengono messi al corrente di tutto o quasi e non solo...
La storia non gode molta credibilità nel suo insieme e le indagini vengono condotte in modo molto poco ortodosso: tutti vengono messi al corrente di tutto o quasi e non solo...
November 11, 2011
An Edwardian murder mystery with plenty of Edwardian racial stereotypes.
June 10, 2018
Good book
January 2, 2025
noiosissimo..
November 18, 2015
Um. I have very mixed feelings on this one. On the one hand it is a good mystery typically of J S Fletcher (although did I miss something – I’m still not sure who killed the Chinese man at his house). There are many twists and turns, and rushings around ye olde London. What starts off as the murder of an old Jewish pawnbroker evolves into an international gemstone robbery. Written in the 1920s, it does have that “by jove!” kind of innocence and charm about it, with people leaping to conclusions, being disturbingly gullible at times, and also showing disturbingly bad police procedure, which I hope was just fictional! If it was written today it would be rubbish, but there is a charm to this harking back to the good old days. That’s why I like reading J S Fletcher books.
However, something was apparent in this book that I’d not picked up on in his other books. And for this reason I wouldn’t really recommend reading it. Because this is the kind of of-its-time old-school charm that I don’t think we want to necessarily remember. There is a lot of casual racism and racist stereotyping in this book. Yes, I understand that it is a product of its time, and sadly that’s the way a lot of people thought back then. But as I read these books for their lost charm, the racism kind of negatates that. It’s a shame because otherwise it is one of his better plots. Honestly it made me whince at times to read what was written. Most ethnic groups get a mention, so it’s certainly not picking on any particular group – Jewish people, black people, Chinese people and the Japanese all get their derogatory names and stereotyped descriptions here.
Another sign of the times is the treatment of the women. Most of this book is basically a little boys’ club of running around London playing at detectives and having “by jove!” conversations. There are three women in the book, a governess at Levendale’s house, Mrs Goldmark who runs a little café near the pawnbrokers, and Zillah, who is the granddaughter of the murdered pawnbroker (although another poor orphan girl taken into care by an older male relative, who is about to come into money). The girls don’t get to play detective, and are left at home to be emotional and keep house. Worse, they just seen to get in the way of the boys playing serious detectives. There’s an awful bit when the young Scotsman, Lauriston, has discovered the body of the murdered pawnbroker. A detective has just come onto the property as well, and they are stood talking about what to do now. Zillah choses that moment to come home from shopping, and despite the fact that she’s got some awful news coming her way, she is treated as an inconvenience to the little boys’ detective game. Considering she comes upon two men in her house who shouldn’t normally be there, this is how they respond to her AND break the news of her grandfather’s death:
"Now, my dear!" he said. "Don't get upset--your grandfather was getting a very old man, you know--and we can't expect old gentlemen to live for ever. Take it quietly, now!" (p.16)
Yes, shut up and don’t make a fuss, little lady; the men have work to do.
It’s a shame that some of these society attitudes/racism have come through so strongly, because if you avoid that, it is an adventure/mystery of awfully good fun. But as J S Fletcher wrote so many books, perhaps this one is best left on the shelf in favour of other ones.
However, something was apparent in this book that I’d not picked up on in his other books. And for this reason I wouldn’t really recommend reading it. Because this is the kind of of-its-time old-school charm that I don’t think we want to necessarily remember. There is a lot of casual racism and racist stereotyping in this book. Yes, I understand that it is a product of its time, and sadly that’s the way a lot of people thought back then. But as I read these books for their lost charm, the racism kind of negatates that. It’s a shame because otherwise it is one of his better plots. Honestly it made me whince at times to read what was written. Most ethnic groups get a mention, so it’s certainly not picking on any particular group – Jewish people, black people, Chinese people and the Japanese all get their derogatory names and stereotyped descriptions here.
Another sign of the times is the treatment of the women. Most of this book is basically a little boys’ club of running around London playing at detectives and having “by jove!” conversations. There are three women in the book, a governess at Levendale’s house, Mrs Goldmark who runs a little café near the pawnbrokers, and Zillah, who is the granddaughter of the murdered pawnbroker (although another poor orphan girl taken into care by an older male relative, who is about to come into money). The girls don’t get to play detective, and are left at home to be emotional and keep house. Worse, they just seen to get in the way of the boys playing serious detectives. There’s an awful bit when the young Scotsman, Lauriston, has discovered the body of the murdered pawnbroker. A detective has just come onto the property as well, and they are stood talking about what to do now. Zillah choses that moment to come home from shopping, and despite the fact that she’s got some awful news coming her way, she is treated as an inconvenience to the little boys’ detective game. Considering she comes upon two men in her house who shouldn’t normally be there, this is how they respond to her AND break the news of her grandfather’s death:
"Now, my dear!" he said. "Don't get upset--your grandfather was getting a very old man, you know--and we can't expect old gentlemen to live for ever. Take it quietly, now!" (p.16)
Yes, shut up and don’t make a fuss, little lady; the men have work to do.
It’s a shame that some of these society attitudes/racism have come through so strongly, because if you avoid that, it is an adventure/mystery of awfully good fun. But as J S Fletcher wrote so many books, perhaps this one is best left on the shelf in favour of other ones.
April 1, 2018
People are here are rating it low because of the racial stereotypes. I think that's a sad thing to do. Many of the greatest books I've ever read have racial stereotypes. It's just the time period it was written in. Anyway. Good read, I found myself unable to put it down at times. Although it didn't conclude exactly the way I thought it would, I still very much enjoyed the book overall. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes murder mysteries.
November 2, 2015
A fine mystery story. I never expected the detective/hero to be who it was.
November 30, 2020
Although I thought this novel worked well as a thriller, it is very old fashioned now. Many readers will be offended by the use of the n-word, plus racist stereotyping of Chinese and Japanese people - not considered offensive at the time it was written, but likely to cause at the very least discomfort on reading.
August 4, 2020
Antologia I capolavori del giallo
Insolita la storia ma con un ritmo troppo lento per essere un giallo. Fletcher non è riuscito a tenermi con il fiato sospeso, il curioso finale mi ha lasciata alquanto esterrefatta.
Insolita la storia ma con un ritmo troppo lento per essere un giallo. Fletcher non è riuscito a tenermi con il fiato sospeso, il curioso finale mi ha lasciata alquanto esterrefatta.
December 27, 2018
Pretty good classic mystery. A young author from Scotland is running out of money and decides to pawn something. He meets a young woman at the shop. Later he goes back to pawn something else and finds the woman's father dead. Unfortunately, he is under suspicion because of his presence and also some rings he has come to pawn. The woman's cousin and a friend of the young man help the police figure out what happened. Several threads of possibilities are narrowed down to one in the end. Fairly well written.
November 30, 2016
Pawn broking and murder in London, South African diamonds, old cafés, writers, policemen, Chinese and Japanese students, Spanish manuscripts, and alot of money... All this presents a rather exciting tale...
March 24, 2019
When in 1912 an elderly pawnbroker, Multenius, is murdered a young, poor writer, Andrew Lauriston, is accused of the crime.
Not a simple straightforward story but somewhat complicated and meandering, but overall an enjoyable mystery.
Not a simple straightforward story but somewhat complicated and meandering, but overall an enjoyable mystery.
January 27, 2021
I would guess that this book is a good representative of the sensational literature of its time. A penniless writer, a Jewish pawnbroker, the stalwart friend, inscrutable orientals, a priceless diamond from South Africa, and various returned colonials are the ingredients of this potboiler, but what stood out to me most was the very ingrained racism. Every person the hero, (the penniless writer in question) encounters, is described in function of their race, more specifically as to how much Jewish blood they might have. This is based on their names, but also physical characteristics, in brief : the most superficial type of racial profiling. At the same time, the Jewish characters in the book are not villains, and Melky, fellow-boarder of the hero, cousin to the love interest and grandson to the first victim, is sympathetically described as a clever youngster who was raised in the school of hard knocks. As for the Chinese and Japanese medical students in the book, they come with all the cliches : reserved, mysterious, smiling-but-treacherous. There's even an opium den in the book! Other red herrings include a mysterious Spanish book and the disappearance of a well-to-do businessman with links to the colonies.
In short : a sensational, old-fashioned story, that can teach the modern reader something about racial attitudes in the UK in the 1920s.
In short : a sensational, old-fashioned story, that can teach the modern reader something about racial attitudes in the UK in the 1920s.
October 23, 2022
Struggling writer, Andrew Lauriston is down to his last few pennies when a fellow lodger, Melchior (Melky) Rubinstein suggests that Andrew pawn his watch at the pawnshop of Mekly's relations, the elderly shop owner, Multenius and his granddaughter, Zillah Wildrose. On his second visit to the pawnshop to pawn two rings given to him by his mother, Lauriston finds that Multenius has been murdered, and becomes the prime suspect, since the rings in his possession bear a striking resemblance to those in the pawnbroker's stock.
The setup is straightforward enough, and the budding romance between Andrew and Zillah ads to the plight, but the tale quickly becomes overloaded by characters, who appear one after another, taking the tale in one direction after another - the valuable orange-yellow diamond of the title doesn't appear into well into the book - so that the premise is never coherently realized; in fact, it almost becomes irrelevant. A shame, because the characters are quite well drawn for the most part. There are Asian stereotypes which are dated (the story was published in 1921), but with his Jewish characters, particularly Zillah and Melky, Fletcher avoids stereotype - they are both three dimensional, interesting and engaging characters, who deserved a better plot.
March 6, 2025
Hmm. Fletcher has frequently been noted for having information "appear" to move his plot forward, but in this story the constant 'new witness at the door' becomes incredible!
An impoverished writer is suspected of the robbery and murder of a pawnbroker. His friends rally round, and eventually expose the real criminals.
There are plenty of criminals, and even some doubtful characters we ho as patently will get away with outrageous behavior (a wealthy man is "delighted" when an innocent man is suspected, in hope it will help him recover some property-- and no one even tuts!)
Then there is the racism. There are a number of London Jews in the story (one acts as one of the hero's helpers) and they are treated at least as individuals, although certainly certainly 'a different race'. There are also Asians, all of whom are s tated to be clever, sly, and untrustworthy .
An impoverished writer is suspected of the robbery and murder of a pawnbroker. His friends rally round, and eventually expose the real criminals.
There are plenty of criminals, and even some doubtful characters we ho as patently will get away with outrageous behavior (a wealthy man is "delighted" when an innocent man is suspected, in hope it will help him recover some property-- and no one even tuts!)
Then there is the racism. There are a number of London Jews in the story (one acts as one of the hero's helpers) and they are treated at least as individuals, although certainly certainly 'a different race'. There are also Asians, all of whom are s tated to be clever, sly, and untrustworthy .
September 27, 2021
This one is difficult to review and to rate. It belongs to the rattling adventure genre, with some detection and romance. The two main female characters are firmly relegated to subordinate roles.
While the Jewish characters are fairly and interestingly depicted, other races are not, with Chinese and Japanese villains and an opium den straight out of Conan Doyle, as well as a blackmailing Cockney.
Fletcher, in typical fashion, packs in a lot of criminal activities, then rushes the end, leaving a few unresolved plot strands, but finding time for a cringeworhy love scene.
I can usually breeze my way through JSF's untaxing works, but I did not really enjoy this one as much as the other six I have read this month. Time for a break, methinks.
While the Jewish characters are fairly and interestingly depicted, other races are not, with Chinese and Japanese villains and an opium den straight out of Conan Doyle, as well as a blackmailing Cockney.
Fletcher, in typical fashion, packs in a lot of criminal activities, then rushes the end, leaving a few unresolved plot strands, but finding time for a cringeworhy love scene.
I can usually breeze my way through JSF's untaxing works, but I did not really enjoy this one as much as the other six I have read this month. Time for a break, methinks.
March 19, 2023
1921 featuring a multiethnic cast of Chinese, Japanese and Jewish along with stereotypes.
Elderly Jewish pawnbroker is murdered in a seedy 1921 London neighborhood, a young and a down on his luck writer, Andie Lauriston, is the prime suspect. Melky Rubenstein, relative of the pawnbroker. Somehow it falls to Melky Rubenstein, relative of the pawnbroker, to be the investigation mover who only recently knows Lauriston and sets out to prove his innocence. Toss into this a missing South African diamond worth over eighty-thousand pounds is missing a valuable old Spanish manuscript found at the murder scene, Chinese medical students play ad a mysteriousJapanese medical student and you have what Melky unravels.
Elderly Jewish pawnbroker is murdered in a seedy 1921 London neighborhood, a young and a down on his luck writer, Andie Lauriston, is the prime suspect. Melky Rubenstein, relative of the pawnbroker. Somehow it falls to Melky Rubenstein, relative of the pawnbroker, to be the investigation mover who only recently knows Lauriston and sets out to prove his innocence. Toss into this a missing South African diamond worth over eighty-thousand pounds is missing a valuable old Spanish manuscript found at the murder scene, Chinese medical students play ad a mysteriousJapanese medical student and you have what Melky unravels.
May 5, 2020
Old style adventure yarn with a lot of twist and turn .For those who like Sax Rohmer or his ilk, this is a very nice book. I liked it well enough but it's not in the same class of The Middle Temple Murder.The main problem was that there were too many secondary detectives and the primary detective was too dense . It has got all the old world charm of a story peopled with Japs ,chinks,mysterious oriental poison and slant eyed villains... If you don't find these charming ,avoid this one like plague.
November 25, 2022
What’s with the weird cover art for the book pictured on Goodreads for this title? This book is in the public domain, so it’s free for Kindle on Amazon.
The plot is energetic and twisty, but it’s a little too breathless in how the facts are unrolled.
Also, for the time, it was probably quite good for how it handled people from other cultures (I’ve definitely read worse… and of course the usual absence of characters from other cultures/backgrounds). However, modern readers will find the stereotyping of Jewish, Chinese, and Japanese characters off-putting, at best.
The plot is energetic and twisty, but it’s a little too breathless in how the facts are unrolled.
Also, for the time, it was probably quite good for how it handled people from other cultures (I’ve definitely read worse… and of course the usual absence of characters from other cultures/backgrounds). However, modern readers will find the stereotyping of Jewish, Chinese, and Japanese characters off-putting, at best.
May 1, 2025
An uncomfortable read, since this story is oozing offensive racial stereotypes. Interestingly complicated and quite likeable characters, but the plot requires some to make stupid choices. Even the voices of the characters manage to be offensive in their not-so-sly winking at stereotypes, let alone racial epithets. Too much of the solution comes about with characters introduced late for my preference. Fletcher’s other stories, those I’ve read so far, are more timeless, quite contemporary in their pace and ingenuity despite the settings, and I would recommend seeking them out instead.
December 8, 2021
Wonderful mystery listening 🎧
another very intense British romance murder mystery novel by J. S. Fletcher set in London. The story starts with a young man meeting a young lady in a pawn shop where the next day there is a murder. He is the prime suspect but with the help of friends and the police the real criminals are caught. I highly recommend this novel and author to readers of British mysteries. Enjoy the adventure of reading novels 😎👍🕵️♀️ 2021
another very intense British romance murder mystery novel by J. S. Fletcher set in London. The story starts with a young man meeting a young lady in a pawn shop where the next day there is a murder. He is the prime suspect but with the help of friends and the police the real criminals are caught. I highly recommend this novel and author to readers of British mysteries. Enjoy the adventure of reading novels 😎👍🕵️♀️ 2021
June 12, 2018
The nicest way of describing this book would be "a product of its time". Maybe it's just that all that made me particularly harsh on what remains of the plot, too. Not to mention MUST HAVE SOMEONE CHANGE THEIR NAME INCREDIBLY UNSUBTLY.
August 23, 2017
Strange mystery ending was a twist. Well narrated by various readers. Classically non offensive. Recommended.
Librivox
Gutenberg
Librivox
Gutenberg
December 2, 2019
Fun ...but repeats of info in conversation, rather daft at times and very stereotypical racial portraits.
August 23, 2020
Really racist
April 1, 2021
Bleah! Too many stereotypes and not very much of a mystery.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews