A review by kali
Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Lucy Sussex

5.0

In 1885, Fergus Hume (an Australian New Zealander) wrote the first bestselling detective fiction, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, selling it for 50 pounds and missing out on the fortune earned by his patrons, publishers, and all manner of middle men and women. Sussex covers a great many aspects of the creation, distribution, and legacy of this novel. I read that she is a ‘literary archaeologist’, an apt description for the forensic detail contained within this book. For anyone interested in the origins of the detective fiction genre, literary history, and how some things have hardly changed for Australian authors trying to break into the overseas market. I enjoyed this thoroughly.