I include this Audiobook only because this is a wonderful tale that is one of the first examples of the Whodunit and it is not available in any other form in Audio.
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886) - International Best-Selling Crime Novel - BBC Audiobook
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Crawford Logan reads Fergus Hume's classic Victorian crime novel - ten episodes of approx 30 minutes each in high quality MP3.
"Read all about it! The Mystery of the Hansom Cab is the original Australian blockbuster and international best-selling crime novel. First published in 1886, this vivid and brilliantly plotted murder thriller, set in the charming and deadly streets of marvellous Melbourne, has sold hundreds of thousands of copies around the world. More than a century later, The Mystery of the Hansom Cab has lost none of its page-turning power"
"One of the 100 best crime novels of all time" [Sunday Times]
Episode guides witheld to avoid spoiling the plot.
First Paragraph:
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"The following report appeared in the Argus newspaper of Saturday, the 28th July, 18_:_
'Truth is said to be stranger than fiction, and certainly the extraordinary murder which took place in Melbourne on Thursday night, or rather Friday morning, goes a long way towards verifying this saying. A crime has been committed by an unknown assassin, within a short distance of the principal streets of this great city, and is surrounded by an impenetrable mystery. Indeed, from the nature of the crime itself, the place where it was committed, and the fact that the assassin has escaped without leaving a trace behind him, it would seem as though the case itself had been taken bodily out of one of Gaboriau's novels, and that his famous detective Lecoq only would be able to unravel it. The facts of the case are simply these:-
'On the twenty-seventh of July, at the hour of twenty minutes to two o'clock in the morning, a hansom cab drove up to the police station, in Grey Street, St Kilda, and the driver made the startling statement that his cab contained the body of a man whom he had the reason to believe had been murdered..."
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Type : mpeg 1 layer III
Bitrate : 128
Mode : joint stereo
Frequency : 44100 Hz
Encoder : Lame 3.95
Part 1 of 10
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Suprisingly, I've a copy of this book. The flyleaf as a pencil inscription AC Patten 1893. Inside the front and rear covers are advertizements for various items such as bicycles, writing machines, and patent medicines. The book appears to be akin to a book of the month club selection. The spine of the book says Columbus Series. Now I'll have to listen since it has been maybe thirty or forty years since I read the book. Many Thanks
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