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If one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes adventures had been neglected and disappeared from print, there would be an enormous outcry from aggrieved fans of the deerstalker-clad detective, yet this sad fate is precisely what befell Fergus Hume and his bestselling novel, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab. Published obscurely in Melbourne in 1886, a year before the first Holmes adventure (A Study in Scarlet), Hume's novel swiftly appeared in England and America, and became such a massive success, it was the bestselling mystery novel of the nineteenth century, reaching more readers than Holmes and his ilk.

A barrister's clerk intent on becoming a dramatist, Hume was unable to interest theatre owners in his work, and decided to publish a novel, for the express purpose of attracting local attention. Ascertaining that the mysteries of Emile Gaboriau were extremely popular, he read several and decided to write something similar; the result was this forgotten classic, a book whose immortality would doubtless be assured were its author English, American or European. Set in the dark and dangerous streets of Melbourne, the novel opens with a cabby discovering that his passenger, a very drunk man, has been murdered, a chloroform-soaked handkerchief covering his mouth. Another passenger, possibly the killer, has vanished, his identity unknown, as is that of the victim, making this impenetrable puzzle difficult for police detective Samuel Gorby to solve. In fact, he cannot unravel its myriad layers and the mystery is explained by another man, who must negotiate Melbourne's mean streets, digging up various secrets, searching for assorted papers and witnesses that both go astray and running into blackmail and, of course, murder. Rich in characters, wonderfully atmospheric and a true original, Hume's book has, despite its current obscurity, been widely acknowledged to be among the hundred best crime novels. Find out why.

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