The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume and read by Crawford Logan - 10 parts

[Peter Gordon]

This is a much praised story published in 1886.

"The story of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab takes place in Melbourne, Australia, and involves an investigation into a murder where the deceased was discovered in the evening inside of a hansom cab. The city of Melbourne is itself a significant factor in the plot and setting, and is described by the author: "Over all the great city hung a cloud of smoke like a pall."Throughout the novel the influential and secretive Frettlby family is a key element, and it is revealed later in the book that they have an illegitimate daughter living on the streets. The name of the killer himself is not as much of a significant revelation in the story, as is the role of the Frettlby family and their secret. The class divide between the wealthy and less fortunate of the city of Melbourne is juxtaposed throughout the plot.

The protaginist in the novel is a law enforcement official named Detective Gorby, who is given the task of solving the murder. Hume uses descriptive text to describe the character's investigative skills: "He looked keenly round the room, and his estimate of the dead man's character was formed at once." The author commented in a later introduction, "All of the scenes in the book, especially the slums, are described from personal observation; and I passed a great many nights in Little Bourke Street, gathering material". At this time, the street had gained notoriety as a place frequented by prostitutes and criminals.

https://timespast.ning.com/page/uploads

[Anson (Bob) Roberts]

Just to whet the appetite of the curious, here are the opening paragraphs:

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...

[Peter Gordon]

An intersting piece. Many thanks

Peter

[Robert]

Thanks, sounds like a good one !!