Published in 1886 and an immediate best seller, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab was one of the earliest detective stories written in English, predating Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet by a year, and is considered one of the best examples of the genre. As a mystery I must admit it is a bit slight and the identity of the killer is given away very early in the piece, but for this reader its main charm lies in its depiction of my own home town, Melbourne, Australia, where the novel was written and set. The novel takes us to the moneyed salons of The Melbourne Club, the elegance of The Block, the slums of Little Bourke Street, the sweet sea air of St Kilda and the sweltering heat of a Victorian rural station, all of which are evoked with the authenticity that can only be attained by an eye-witness. Whatever its achievement as a mystery, I’m sure this characteristic made a large contribution to the novel’s success, especially in Melbourne.Its author, Fergus Hume, was born in England and migrated to New Zealand as a child with his family. After qualifying as a lawyer, he left New Zealand for the most dynamic city of the colonies at the time, Marvellous Melbourne. There, however, rather than settling for a career in the law, Hume was determined to make a name for himself as a writer. After failing to interest any of the theatres in his plays, Hume decided to write a novel, but not just any novel, a best-seller. Enquiring of a bookseller what kind of novel was the most popular, he was told it was the detective mysteries of Emile Gaboriau. After having read all of Gaboriau’s mysteries, Hume produced his own, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.A dashing young man about town is found drunk in a city street. A man who appears to know him hails a hansom cab and offers to accompany the drunk to his home, but half way there the Good Samaritan seems to argue with his friend and gets out of the cab, sending the driver on. When the driver tries to rouse his remaining passenger he finds him dead. Thus begins a mystery that incorporates all the elements one expects from a nineteenth century melodrama – a beautiful and innocent young heiress, a terrible secret, and an honourable young man who would rather face death than reveal it. But apart from these clichés, Hume gives his mystery an air of authenticity with newspaper articles, court transcripts and police procedures. It is much livened by some rather eccentric characters including an alcoholic slum matriarch, a pair of garrulous landladies, and two rival detectives each pursuing opposing lines of investigation. But the investigation is actually a small part of this novel which focuses, rather, on the people whose lives have been affected by the murder – the young woman the dead man had once courted, her fiancé who is accused of his murder, and her father, a millionaire with a mysterious past.Having written his novel, Hume approached several publishers and came up against an attitude that still lingers today, that nothing good could possibly come out of Australia. So Hume did what many authors are still forced to do. He scraped the money together to self-publish his book. Despite the publishers’ prejudices, the first print run of 5,000 copies sold out in three weeks and a second print run was produced. However, Hume lacked the capital to take his novel to the British and American markets, so sold those rights for £50. Hume did not see another penny for sales of 750,000, or the stage adaptation which ran in London for 500 nights. Hume followed his creation to London where he continued his career as a writer, but without ever again seeing the success of his first novel.The Mystery of a Hansom Cab is an entertaining mystery in its own right, a remarkable example of the origins of the detective novel, and a delightful evocation of its time and place. It is well worth reading.
Originally published on My Books Are Me - www.mybooksareme.weebly.com As someone who doesn't really read crime mysteries, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially since it was required university reading for my Australian Literature course. A body is found murdered in a Hansom Cab, and police soon discover that it's a man named Oliver Whyte. But now the real question is, who on earth is the killer and why was he killed? Through some investigation, detective Mr. Gorby believes it to be Brian Fitzgerald, a man who is said to have despised Whyte for wanting to marry his lover, Madge Frettlby. After a lengthy investigation into the evidence, both for and against, it is determined that Brian is innocent, and that someone is trying to frame him - but who did want Whyte dead, and what secret do the papers stolen from Whyte's pocket reveal? This was a very enjoyable read, even though I did end up listening to a majority of it via audiobook. I really enjoyed the two opening chapters, the first of which is the newspaper article regarding the event, and the second the evidence report. It was a creative way to introduce the main event of the story, enabling the rest of the book to focus on the mystery of the murderer. By using this way of storytelling, Hume was able to persuade the reader to believe that each of the suspects were the murderer, which I really enjoyed. I definitely didn't see the final result coming, but it all fitted into the story. The story gave such a great insight into Australian and Melbournian life during the late 1800s, and I could picture the events unfolding in the city. During the few chapters, it felt like the story was based off a true crime, even though no such event had occurred. Hume did an excellent job at pulling the reader into 19th century Melbourne, showing the wealth of the upper-class and the poverty of the back-alley slums. It's really interesting to see that this book was the bestselling crime novel of the nineteenth century, and not Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. I hadn't heard of this book prior to having to study it for university and I'm really glad that I have read it. It's a great piece of Australian literature.Overall, I highly recommend this book, especially to those who enjoy crime fiction and novels set in Australia. It's such a great mystery novel and you'll be unsure as to who the murderer was for the majority of the story.
Do You like book The Mystery Of A Hansom Cab (2005)?
Malcolm Royston, a cabman, was driving in Collins Street East, Melbourne at 1am on the 27th July 18-- when he was hailed by a gentleman who appeared to be supporting another man, presumably under the influence of too much liquor. When he pulled over, he was told to take the gentleman home, as he was “awfully tight”. He stated that he had found the man slumped by a lamp post and though he didn’t know him, thought he’d send him safely home. But suddenly the good Samaritan appeared to recognise the drunken man, and allowing him to slump to the ground, rushed off in disgust.Rousing him with difficulty Royston finally managed to make out that the man wanted to go to St Kilda – after navigating him into his cab, which turned out to be a bit of a struggle, he was about to drive off when the original man returned. He declared he would see the drunk home after all and entered the cab, seating himself next to the gentleman – Royston then proceeded to head for St Kilda. But a little later Royston found himself heading to the Police Station – the following investigation had the police convinced they had found their murderer; the ease of the arrest thrilled the investigative officer, Mr Gorby, immensely. Mr Calton on the other hand wasn’t so convinced – his investigation was intense and thorough. What would he find? How would the lives of the participating players of this drama be affected?What an entertaining mystery! Written back in the 1880s it covers everything needed for a good mystery, with a number of characters, eccentric and otherwise. It was a little tedious to read at times, but I suppose that might have to do with the time it was written. For anyone who would like a glimpse into Australia’s past, especially Melbourne’s inhabitants of the 1800s this could interest you a lot!
—Brenda
If asked to name the bestselling mystery novel of the 19th century, most people would probably suggest something by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, possibly The Hound of the Baskervilles. In fact the biggest selling 19th century mystery novel was Fergus Hume’s The Mystery of a Hansom Cab. Hume was born in England but brought up in New Zealand, and was living in Australia when he wrote the book. The book is set in Melbourne. He went on to write a further 131 crime novels.The book opens with a cabby discovering a dead man, identity unknown, in his hansom cab. Police investigations soon establish the victim’s identity, and circumstantial evidence points towards a wealthy young squatter, Brian Fitzgerald. . It soon becomes clear that Fitzgerald is hiding something, and is prepared to face the hangman’s noose rather than reveal the secret. By modern standards I’d describe it as a crime melodrama. There are gentlemen declaring their intention to die rather than put a lady’s honour at risk. There are dreadful family secrets. There are surprise witnesses. There is a convoluted plot involving some unlikely coincidences. The final resolution is suspiciously neat. It’s all very breathless. On the other hand Hume does introduce enough twists to maintain the reader’s interest, and the book is quite entertaining. One interesting feature is that both the detectives involved in the case are police detectives rather than amateur sleuths, and both police officers are shown to be intelligent and efficient, and very professional. The Mystery of a Hansom Cab was immensely influential at the time, and was a worldwide bestseller. Conan Doyle is known to have read it. It’s essential reading if you have a taste for Victorian and Edwardian detective stories.
—Dfordoom
A pesar de las buenas críticas que vi de este libro y que me llevaron a querer leerlo, creo que los misterios de época no son para mí, no logro adentrarme como lo haría con una novela policíaca actual. Cuando empecé a leerlo me resultó tedioso y como yo siempre me fijo en el desarrollo psicológico de los personajes y en esta obra a penas vemos bosquejos, eso me desanimó bastante, pero tengo que admitir que hacia la mitad del libro la historia empezó a interesarme bastante más gracias a la intriga, pero sí es cierto que el final no me sorprendió muchísimo. Para mí la historia hubiera mejorado si hubiese un personaje más importante, como que alguno de los detectives estuviese más desarrollado y tuviese más importancia, necesitaba un protagonista al que seguir. En definitiva, una obra breve, que se lee muy rápido, una intriga para entretener.La edición, como siempre en esta editorial, es impecable y preciosa.
—Galena Sanz
