The Mystery of a Hansom Cab

AUSTRALIAN INTEREST In a richly evoked setting of 1880s Australia, an anonymous passenger in a horse-drawn cab is found dead. When a prominent citizen is accused but refuses to provide an alibi, a lawyer and detective unite to discover the truth. This ingeniously plotted, fast-paced thriller was the bestselling mystery novel of the Victorian era and is reputed to have inspired the creation of Sherlock Holmes. About the Author English novelist Fergus Hume (1859–1932) spent most of his life in New Zealand and Australia, self-publishing The Mystery of a Hansom Cab in 1886. Renowned as the most sensationally popular crime and detective novel of the 19th century, its success prompted Arthur Conan Doyle to assay the genre with A Study in Scarlet, which featured the debut of Sherlock Holmes.