The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
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3.7 • 90 Ratings
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Publisher Description
An Apple Books Classic edition.
We’ve all heard of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. But what about the novel that inspired Doyle-and outsold him? Fergus Hume’s The Mystery of a Hansom Cab made him the bestselling crime writer of the 19th century.
The story opens in the dead of night in Victorian-era Melbourne. A man pulls up to a police station and tells them he’s shuttling the body of a murder victim inside his hansom cab. And although he’s laid eyes on the man he believes to be the murderer, the driver can offer no concrete leads.
Hume’s novel is as famous for its plot as it is for its depiction of Melbourne’s class divides at the time. With its portraits of grimy, impoverished neighbourhoods alongside scenes of high-society opulence, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab is an absorbing historical mystery.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The first Australian blockbuster, Fergus Hume’s clever mystery tale earned outsized success at home and abroad in the 1880s, becoming the century’s best-selling crime novel. When a dead body is found in a horse-drawn carriage on the streets of Melbourne, the resulting investigation threatens an elite family’s most guarded secrets. As Detective Gorby delves into both the city’s high society and seedy underbelly, a colourful procession of characters keeps the plot humming along. Between the many twists and the period Australian details, Mystery of a Hansom Cab should appeal to fans of Sherlock Holmes and beyond.
Customer Reviews
Fun from historical point of view
Plenty of twists and turns, good read as an early novel of Australia.
Full of typos though 😬
Great Story - many editing errors
I’m so pleased I came across this book. Fabulous story however there are so many editing errors it was quite challenging to read at times.
Proof reading needed
Quite an enjoyable read considering it’s age. Some red herrings along the way mean you are kept guessing as to the culprit even if some aspects might be a little contrived. I was pleasantly surprised that the author also introduced some humorous touches occasionally, particularly when describing some of the incidental characters.
However the number of typographical errors was rather annoying. It would seem the publishers just ran an original copy of the book through a word recognition application and reproduced the result without checking that it had correctly identified words. Mistakes were evident on almost every page.
Overall though it is definitely worth reading.