The Castafiore Emerald

On a beautiful spring day, Tintin, who is staying with Captain Haddock, receives a letter from Bianca Castafiore. The opera diva writes that she is tired of the hustle and bustle and has decided to take a little rest... And not just anywhere, but in Moulinsart! Haddock is horrified: he is ready to flee from his own home just to avoid meeting 'this walking cyclone.' But then chance intervenes, and the captain finds himself confined to a wheelchair for two weeks. With a heavy heart, he is forced to endure the loud guest, her entourage, and the ubiquitous journalists who scurry around the castle in search of cheap sensations. And the sensations do not take long to appear: first, the press publishes a piece about the engagement of 'the Milan Nightingale' and 'the retired Admiral Haddock,' and then a theft occurs in the house – a priceless emerald, gifted to Castafiore by Maharaja Gopal, goes missing...

In the 21st volume of the series, published in 1963, the action is confined to Moulinsart for the first time, and the adventures give way to a classic 'hermetic' detective story, where the crime occurs in a closed space. The plot is riddled with false leads that initially confuse not only Tintin, who takes on the role of Sherlock Holmes, but also the reader.

Hergé is the pseudonym of the Belgian artist Georges Remi (1907–1983), the creator of Tintin. The series about the adventures of the brave reporter with a lively tuft and his loyal friend, the snow-white fox terrier Milou, has been translated into 110 languages, recognized worldwide as a classic of the comics genre, and continues to win the hearts of readers from ages 10 to 99.