Description
According to Wikipedia: According to Wikipedia: Fergusson Wright Hume, known as Fergus Hume (8 July 1859-12 July 1932) was an English novelist.... Hume was born in England, the second son of Dr. James Hume. At the age of three years his father emigrated with his family to Dunedin, New Zealand... Finding that the novels of Émile Gaboriau were then very popular in Melbourne, he obtained and read a set of them and determined to write a novel of a similar kind. The result was the self-published novel The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886), which became a great success. He based his descriptions of poor urban life on his knowledge of Little Bourke Street. He sold the English and United States rights to the novel for fifty pounds, and thus derived little benefit from its success. It eventually became the best selling mystery novel of the 19th century, John Sutherland terming it the most sensationally popular crime and detective novel of the century..This novel inspired Arthur Conan Doyle to write A Study In Scarlet, which initiated the character Sherlock Holmes.
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