Things aren't looking so good for Cyril Paxton. Hoping to earn enough money to finally marry his true love, Daisy Strong, Cyril invests his savings in the stock market, and loses it all. Ruined and on the brink of emigrating to flee his creditors, he reads with amusement a newspaper story telling of the brazen robbery of the Duchess of Datchet's diamonds, worth half a million pounds. But who can imagine his surprise when he returns home and finds, thanks to a luggage mix-up on the train, that he is in possession of the jewels!

Cyril is at first elated at his change of fortune, but he may not be so lucky as it seems. Inspector John Ireland of Scotland Yard is hot on his trail, suspecting him of being the thief. And worse yet, the real thieves are after him as well. And when Paxton falls into their clutches, he'll face a difficult choice: give up the jewels, or risk brutal torture and certain death!

Richard Marsh was a versatile writer of ghost stories, horror novels, and romances, as well as thrilling mysteries like The Datchet Diamonds (1898). First appearing in the wake of the popularity of the Sherlock Holmes stories, The Datchet Diamonds is one of the earliest modern detective novels. This edition reprints the unabridged text of the rare first edition and reproduces the original cover illustration from an early Victorian edition of the novel.