Reviews for The Mystery of a Hansom Cab

The average rating for The Mystery of a Hansom Cab based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-04-30 00:00:00 Carol Mckissick 3.5★ I wanted to read this novel as soon as I found out that; ☞ Although Hume was born & died in England and wrote his most famous work (this one) while living in Australia, his time in NZ obviously meant a lot to him and he identified as a Kiwi for the rest of his life. I can relate to that. I am still a Canadian citizen but I always feel 100% like a New Zealander. Home is where your heart is. ♥ ☞ This book supposedly inspired Arthur Conan Doyle to write his first Sherlock Holmes book. And I really enjoyed the start. Hume's style was initially fast paced and far more fresh and lively than most Victorian authors. I really engaged with the characters. But I have to go on my own reading experience and for me the pace fell off and I had to read the ending twice to figure out the killer's motivation. 3.5★ is a good rating from me - it does mean I want to read more by this author. And I am tougher on the murder mystery genre as I read so many of them

Review # 2 was written on 2015-07-26 00:00:00 Ferhat Dağ I would have known nothing about this novel and its author had it not been for listening to an interview with the author of this book. The interview left me intrigued. At the time I was about to spend a weekend in Melbourne, so downloading the work, which is well and truly in the public domain, seemed like a good idea. The fact that it took me quite a few weeks to read, even though it's a relatively short work is an indication that I found it less than compelling. However, there wasn't a time when I considered abandoning it. The backstory of the author, the fact that the novel was a 19th century bestseller that out sold Conan Doyle's first work and its setting in a city I know all made me push through. As the title suggests, this is a whodunnit. There's a murder, a police officer or two, a falsely accused hero, a loyal heroine and some shady characters from the Melbourne underworld. It has the requisite number of red herrings, some rather stilted dialogue and a resolution that can't really be worked out from clues in the narrative. Crime fiction fans with an interest in the beginnings of the genre will be more interested in this work than others. It's not really something for the casual reader.