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The Castafiore Emerald (originally Les Bijoux de la Castafiore) is one of a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero.
The Castafiore Emerald is the twenty-first in the series. By far the slowest-moving and most sedate of the Tintin books, it was conceived as a narrative exercise by Herge. Becoming disillusioned with his own most famous creation, the cartoonist wanted to see if he could maintain suspense throughout sixty-two pages in which nothing much happens. Consequently it is a story without villains, guns or danger, but rich in comic setpieces, red herrings and colourful characters. Technically, it is amongst the most sophisticated of the Tintin albums.
The Storyline
Captain Haddock and Tintin stroll around the country when they see a Roma community camped in a garbage dump. They investigate and upon learning that the community chose that local on account of being forbidden to use any other location, the Captain invites them to his grounds of his estate, Marlinspike, over the objections of his butler.
Bianca Castafiore, famous operatic Diva and scourge of the Captain decides to invite herself to for a holiday. All manner of mayhem ensues, including a sprained ankle, a homicidal parrot and rumours that Castafiore and Haddock are engaged (much to the Captain's horror). Castafiore's most prized jewel goes missing, seemingly stolen by Gypsies. But they are vindicated when, in a deliberately anti-climactic denouement, the culprit turns out to have been a magpie. The action never leaves the confines of the Marlinspike estate.
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