The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
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4.2 • 314 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 neighborhoods alongside scenes of high-society opulence, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab is an absorbing historical mystery.
Customer Reviews
The Mystery of a Handsome Cab
A fine Victorian mystery. Made into several different film versions. The narrator could be better. Although I don't hate him as much as some others did. Considering this is a free book, I feel like it's well worth it! Find one of the films and watch that as well!
The mystery of the handsome cab
Entertaining!
Quite Enjoyable :)
The narrator did a great job of distinguishing voices and even dialect, and although another reviewer said it seemed “robotic” they also said they only listened to the very beginning, and the fact is that there at the beginning it isn’t a narrative, but a series of clips of news articles and lists, so the “robotic” sense of it lies in the text, not the narrator’s delivery. It was lots of fun to take in the story that apparently inspired Arthur Conan Doyle to create one of the best known characters in English fiction, and if you are, like me, a fan of 19th century literature, you too may find it an undiscovered gem. I very much enjoyed it, and hope you will , too. :)