Fergus Hume

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab

A Story of One Forgotten

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886) is a mystery novel by Fergus Hume. An immediate bestseller for Hume, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab is a gripping novel with an atmospheric intensity and tightly wound mystery worthy of the best of Victorian fiction. Published the year before Arthur Conan Doyle's debut, A Study in Scarlet (1887), Hume's novel became the first international bestseller to be published in Australia. Adapted countless times for film, theater, radio, and television, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab is a classic detective story and a landmark in Australian literature. In Melbourne, Australia, a cabman stops to pick up a presumably drunk passenger. Helped into the cab by an unknown man, who claims to be a friend, the gentleman settles in for the ride homeward. Accustomed to such things, especially in the darkness of early morning, the cabman begins his ride. When he asks his passenger for directions, however, he receives no response, and turns to find that the man is dead. He drives straight to the local police station, where Detective Gorby begins his investigation. Was the friend in fact the murderer, or was he simply a good Samaritan who believed he was helping a drunk man make it home? When the killer is discovered, however, the mystery remains. Over the story looms the shadow of the Frettlby family, whose secrets threaten to smother all of Melbourne. The Mystery of a Hansom Cab is a masterpiece of slow-burning suspicion between the rich and the poor, a story of law and those willing to break it. This edition of Fergus Hume's The Mystery of a Hansom Cab is a classic of Australian mystery and detective fiction reimagined for modern readers. Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book. With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

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Produktdetails

• Mint Editions
• Verlag: Mint Editions
• Seitenzahl: 238
• Erscheinungstermin: 9. März 2021
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 209mm x 132mm x 18mm
• Gewicht: 384g
• ISBN-13: 9781513206158
• ISBN-10: 151320615X
• Artikelnr.: 62392031

Autorenporträt

Ferguson Wright Hume, also known as Fergus Hume, was a prolific English novelist who wrote detective fiction, thrillers, and mysteries. Hume was born in Powick, Worcestershire, England, as the second son of James C. Hume, a Scot who worked as a clerk and steward at the county pauper and lunatic asylum. When he was three, his family moved to Dunedin, New Zealand, where he attended Otago Boys' High School and studied law at the University of Otago. He was admitted to the New Zealand Bar in 1885. Hume moved to Melbourne, Australia, shortly after graduating and began working as a barristers' clerk. He began writing plays but was unable to persuade Melbourne theatre managers to approve, let alone read them. Hume returned to England, first in London, then in Thundersley, Essex, at Church Cottage, most likely on the invitation of the Reverend Thomas Noon Talfourd Major. Hume resided in Thundersley for thirty years, producing over 130 novels and various collections, the most of which were mystery stories, although he never regained the fame of his debut novel. He also wrote lyrics for songs written by his brother-in-law, Charles Willeby, and book reviews for literary periodicals such as The Bookman. The 1911 census shows him as 'author', aged 51, and living at Church Cottage, Thundersley, which comprised of six rooms. He had a housekeeper, Ada Louise Peck, a widow aged 69. He made regular trips to Italy, France, Switzerland, and other European countries.