The Mystery of a Hansom Cab

I asked a Goodreads friend from Down Under what Australian and New Zealand books she’d recommend to an ignorant Yank like me. I’d only read Australian Kerry Greenwood and Germaine Greer and Kiwi Ngaio Marsh up to that point. Magda was kind enough to send me a long list of excellent authors, including Fergus Hume. The English-born Hume grew up in New Zealand before relocating to Melbourne. Unable to get his plays even looked at — much less staged — he instead turned out his first mystery, The Mystery of the Hansom Cab, in 1886. It became an international sensation and inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to create Sherlock Holmes and pen A Study in Scarlet.

The novel begins in colonial Australia with a cabbie picking up two gentlemen show more in evening dress, one of whom was falling-down drunk. The first gets out early, and, when the cabbie opens the door to let out the second at that gent’s home, the cabbie discovers that the drunk fellow’s been murdered. How can the authorities track down the accompanying gentleman, who must surely be the murderer?

Mr. Gorby, a Melbourne police detective, discovers the victim’s identity and arrests a suspect about halfway through the novel. But Mr. Gorby’s rival on the police force, Mr. Kilsip, has very different ideas. As with any good 19th century mystery, more evidence will emerge that leads Mr. Gorby to reopen the case, and the two rivals will vie — along with the defense attorney Duncan Calton — to be the one to bring the true murderer to justice. Many modern readers decry 19th century mystery novels as dry and contrived, but The Mystery of the Hansom Cab proves as exciting as any by Lawrence Block, Sue Grafton, Dean Koontz, Tony Hillerman, Elizabeth Peters, Laurie R. King, or P.D. James. I couldn’t put it down until I got to the very last chapter!

The Mystery of the Hansom Cab provides readers with a taste of an Australian classic, indeed, one that predates the Australian federation by 15 years. While the novel provides a fun read in its own right, it’s also nice to see the mystery that inspired the greatest fictional detective of all time, Sherlock Holmes. show less

The murder of an unidentified man in a hansom cab has all of Melbourne speculating about the murderer and his motive. The witness statements and the evidence point in one direction, but do these observations and clues tell the whole story? Is there more left to learn?

The plot hints of Dickens and Collins, but without either of those author’s polish. I get a sense that the author might not have worked from an outline. The plot makes some sudden shifts, and some of the characters unaccountably change temperaments in the course of the action. Despite these flaws, the story works, and it suits its setting.

This had a strong setting: nineteenth century Melbourne, with horse drawn cabs, men who would do anything to protect women rather than actually tell them what is going on, and very precise geography. The Melbourne street names and landmarks would obviously mean more to Australians than they did to me. The narrative was varied: some interview transcripts, some newspaper articles and some straight story-telling. The plot was twisty and at times took turns I hadn't anticipated. Having said all that, I still skimmed most of it. Worth a skim.

An enjoyable read, easy and amusing even though solidly set in the Victorian era. As a mystery, it fails a bit for genre fans, as it’s blindingly obvious who the perpetrator is. Nevertheless, there are some twisty things at the end that give one a pause.
Read it for the characters and for that authentic late 1800’s ambiance.

When a hansom cab driver picks up a drunk man and his friend, it seems like an ordinary fare. Until the friend gets out and gives the cabman directions to the drunk man's address. After arriving at his destination, the cabman discovers that the drunk man has been murdered. The crime leaves all of Melbourne in an uproar but the resolution of the mystery may be even more scandalous than the crime itself.

I'm not quite sure how this book ended up on The List. It's an average mystery for its time period (first published in 1887) with the unique element of being set in Australia, rather than the London I had anticipated from the title. While the mystery is not terribly executed, the suspense is bungled a bit, and the lack of a central show more character with whom the reader can solve the mystery makes the book slightly less effective. Worth reading if you're interested in the development of the mystery novel during its nascent period. show less

Though not as well-known to modern readers, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab has much in common with Bram Stoker's Dracula. Both centre on an intriguing mystery, both were hugely popular with 19th century audiences and, alas, neither is particularly well-written. Unfortunately, Hansom Cab has also not dated very well, with its talk of 'brain fever', long-forgotten writers and frequent musings on women as feeble-minded and inscrutable creatures. Modern readers may also be frustrated by Hume's verbosity; his tendency to float away from the novel's main thread, which is actually a rather interesting whodunnit.

Apparently this book caused quite a sensation at the time it was published, but I found it rather tepid. It lacks the charm and wit of Conan Doyle, the suspense of Wilkie Collins or even the trashiness of a good penny dreadful. It's just another predictable cozy mystery - a Victorian version of an episode of Midsomer murders (albeit one set in Melbourne)