“The Queen’s Necklace,” the second novel in the “Notes of a Doctor” series [= “Joseph Balsamo”], was written by Dumas in 1849–1850. It is also devoted to the intrigues in France of the adventurer, Count Alessandro Cagliostro, who in the previous book appeared under the name Joseph Balsamo. Dumas’s narrative unfolds against the backdrop of a real historical event—the theft of an extraordinarily expensive diamond necklace…
This scam, which severely compromised the monarchy and involved the queen herself and prominent courtiers, contemporaries called the prelude to the Great French Revolution.