Fergus Hume was renowned as the bestselling mystery writer of Victorian times after his first book, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, broke all records. In 1901 he returned to form with this ingenious tale, selected to represent Hume’s prolific output by Collins’ Detective Club panel in 1930.
Cicero Gramp was, according to himself, a ‘professor of elocution and eloquence’ – to anyone else he was no more than an engaging and extremely craft vagabond. Hence it was that he found himself awakened from his sleep in the corner of the churchyard, the cheapest available lodging, by men’s voices at an hour past midnight. Two dark figures silhouetted for an instant against the white mausoleum where lay the body of the millionaire Richard Marlow. Then the turning of a key in the iron door of the vault. Silence. Two figures moving back into the night carrying a sinister burden – what Gramp guessed was the body of Marlow. But when a search was made in the vault, Marlow’s coffin was found shut, and not empty: only the body in it was not Marlow’s but that of another man – murdered! And that is only the first puzzle in The Millionaire Mystery . . .

The Millionaire Mystery (Detective Club Crime Classics)

Literature & Fiction

Hume, Fergus

British & Irish

Collins Crime Club

A Coin of Edward Vii.: A Detective Story

Franklin Classics

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Hagar of the Pawn-Shop

Business & Money

New Zealand lawyer and writer Fergus Hume achieved immediate, widespread attention for his first novel, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, when it first appeared in 1886. This remarkable novel, when published in England, became more the talk of London than even Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet, issued soon thereafter. Hume's other detective novels included The Opal Serpent and The Silent House. A splash of chloroform . . . The drunken man was staggering -- but he was quite alive, when the thoughtful gentleman stumbled upon him in the thick Melbourne night and hailed a cab to take him home. By the time the cabdriver was in the proper neighborhood and was turning around to ask directions, the cabbie discovered he was driving around an unconscious man . . . slumped forward with a chemical-soaked handkerchief tied around his mouth! Unconscious -- or dead!

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (Literature of Mystery and Detection)

Classics

Ayer Co. Pub

In the dead of night on a lonely Melbourne street, a cabbie discovers to his horror that his drunken passenger has been murdered — poisoned with a chloroform-saturated handkerchief. The killer, his motive, and even the victim's identity are unknown. The last person to be seen in the victim's company cannot be identified and has vanished into the streets of the Australian metropolis. The solution lies within a labyrinth of dark secrets, missing papers, evasive witnesses, and a deadly game of blackmail. Ever since the publication of this 1886 mystery, the two-wheeled carriage known as a hansom cab has been linked in the popular imagination with sinister affairs. The Mystery of a Hansom Cab was the unlikely first literary product of a young barrister's clerk and quickly rose from its obscure initial publication to become one of the 19th century's bestselling detective novels. Reputed to have inspired the creation of Sherlock Holmes, this ingeniously plotted, fast-paced, and engrossing tale remains a delight for lovers of Victorian mysteries.

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (Dover Mystery Classics)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

Dover Publications

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The Fever Of Life

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Alternative Medicine

Kessinger Publishing

The Fever of Life

Essays & Correspondence

Kessinger Pub Co

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (Large Print Edition)

BiblioLife

Madame Midas (Large Print Edition)

The Secret Passage (Large Print Edition)

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