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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Set in the charming and deadly streets of Melbourne, this vivid and brilliantly plotted murder thriller tells the story of a crime committed by an unknown assassin. With its panoramic depiction of a bustling yet uneasy city, Hansom Cab has a central place in Australian literary history and, more importantly, it remains highly readable. ' (Publication summary)
Adaptations
- The Mystery of a Hansom Cab 1888 single work drama
-
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab aka Midnight Melbourne
1888
single work
drama
Stage version of Fergus Hume's novel of the same name.
- form y The Mystery of a Hansom Cab ( dir. W. J. Lincoln ) Australia : Amalgamated Pictures , 1911 Z824955 1911 single work film/TV detective crime Based on Fergus Hume's popular 1886 novel, the story begins with the murder of a playboy, Oliver White, who is on his way home late one night in a hansom cab. The various scenes are then played out in front of well-known Melbourne landmarks, including the Orient Hotel, the Melbourne Club, the St Kilda Esplanade, Melbourne Gaol, and several prominent St Kilda homes.
-
form
y
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
( dir. Harold Weston
)
United Kingdom (UK)
:
British & Colonial Kinematograph Company
,
1915
6612492
1915
single work
film/TV
crime
detective
British adaptation of Fergus Hume's novel.
-
form
y
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
( dir. Arthur Shirley
)
Australia
:
Pyramid Pictures
,
1925
6336151
1925
single work
film/TV
crime
mystery
The second Australian film based on Fergus Hume's best-selling novel; the first had been released in 1911. (A British film had also been made in 1915.)
-
form
y
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
United Kingdom (UK)
:
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
,
1950
Z824957
1950
single work
radio play
BBC radio adaptation of Fergus Hume's novel.
-
form
y
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
United Kingdom (UK)
:
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
,
1958
6613096
1958
series - publisher
radio play
detective
crime
The second of two BBC radio adaptations of Fergus Hume's novel.
For episode titles, broadcast dates, and synopses, see Notes.
- y The Mystery of a Hansom Cab 1961 1961 Z824963 1961 single work musical theatre Play with music.
-
form
y
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
( dir. Shawn Seet
)
Australia
:
Burberry Productions
,
2012
Z1872562
2012
single work
film/TV
crime
'The Mystery of a Hansom Cab is a tightly plotted murder thriller, a massive best seller that was a forerunner to Sherlock Holmes. As much a study of sophisticated 19th century Melbourne as it is of its captivating characters, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab is a compelling telemovie with a surprise ending that no-one will guess.'
Source: Burberry Productions website, http://www.burberry.com.au/
Sighted: 09/07/2012
Notes
-
Also available as a sound recording and in large print format. Study notes available.
-
A 1917 animated film, made in the US and titled The Great Hansom Cab Mystery, is sometimes said to be an adaptation of Hume's novel, but this cannot be verified.
-
Dedication:
To
James Payne,
Novelist,
This Story
is
Dedicated,
In Grateful Acknowledgement of
His Kind Encouragement to
The Author
Contents
- Fergus Hume's Startling Story, single work criticism (p. v-xiv)
- Introduction : The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, single work criticism (p. i-xiv)
- Introduction, essay
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
清末民初的澳大利亚文学翻译
2019
single work
criticism
— Appears in: 国外文学 , vol. [2019] no. 2 2019; (p. 46-54) According to the newly discovered literature,as early as 1898,a short story titled "Uncle Joe’s Legacy"written by Guy Newell Boothby,an Australian novelist,was published in The North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette,an English magazine published in Shanghai. However,the first Australian literary work translated into Chinese is a detective story The Mystery of A Hansom Cab written by Fergus Hume. In all,twenty Australian literary works were translated into Chinese in the late Qing Dynasty and the early years of the Republic of China. Among them nineteen were regarded as British or American literature. These translations marked the beginning of the translation history of Australian literature in China and had a pioneering significance for the early exchanges between Chinese and Australian literatures. (Source: publisher's abstract) -
From Hotbeds of Depravity to Hidden Treasures : The Narrative Evolution of Melbourne’s Laneways
2019
single work
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , June no. 55 2019; 'Places are both sustained and shaped by the stories we tell about them. In turn, stories of place are influenced by cultural, political, and socioeconomic forces. A form of ‘unplanned’ urban architecture, over almost two centuries Melbourne’s inner-city laneways have been inscribed with multiple layers of narrative. This paper tracks the unfolding tensions around these evolving urban spaces, from Melbourne’s founding up until the present day. Drawing upon site visits, theorists of place, narrative and memory, and analysis of select historical and contemporary texts, the articles explores how the uses of Melbourne’s back lanes have changed over time, and how these changes have been both reflected in, and influenced by, narratives of place. From their genesis as makeshift service lanes, to their early reputation as sites of moral disorder; from shanty towns to celebrated tourist destinations; from public health risks to sites of urban renewal and cultural memorialisation – the transformation of these atmospheric passageways illustratesthe fluid and contested nature of place, and its intrinsic yet unstable relationship with narrative. In considering how narrative has been deployed to stake or negate claims to the laneways, the article traces the role and impact of various actors: government, social reformers, slum residents, novelists, journalists and media outlets, business interests, street artists, and people experiencing homelessness. Melbourne’s inner-urban back lanes emerge as liminal sites where questions of spatial exclusion, cultural capital, and belonging are navigated in complex and shifting ways.'(Publication abstract)
-
Collecting the Criminal : Murder and Mayhem in Cultural Institutions
2018
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Journal of Popular Culture , 1 March vol. 7 no. 1 2018; (p. 41-58) -
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, the Classic Adaptation and the Australian Canon
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Adaptation , March vol. 9 no. 1 2016; (p. 58-67) 'Since it burst onto the literary scene in 1886, the reception history of Fergus Hume’s The Mystery of a Hansom Cab has been uneven. Initially a huge success with readers, the text also strongly influenced Australian crime fiction in the 1880s and 1890s. As the twentieth century wore on, however, its critical reputation fell away, only to re-cover more recently as attention returned to popular crime fiction. As a result, the novel might not seem an obvious, straightforwardly canonical, source for a major adaptation produced by the national broadcaster. This essay argues, however, that as a text poised between the classifications of ‘popular bestseller’ and ‘classic’, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab was a surprisingly attractive proposition as a new classic adaptation for the adapters who produced it for the ABC in 2012. The essay explains why this was the case, analysing the meanings and effects of the telemovie in relation to several different frames, including recent developments in the contextualisation of the classic adaptation genre, the production context of Australian television drama in this period, and other generically similar historical series screened just before it. In this particular case study, the adaptation’s relationship with these cultural and generic networks is shown to be more significant than the status of the source text.' (Publication extract) -
Community, Difference, Context : (Re)reading the Contact Zone
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literature in the German Democratic Republic : Reading through the Iron Curtain 2016; (p. 71-90)
-
In Short : Fiction
2006
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 28-29 January 2006; (p. 22)
— Review of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab 1886 single work novel -
Murder Mystery Abides
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: Sunday Canberra Times , 26 April 2009; (p. 22)
— Review of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab 1886 single work novel -
The Author of 'Madame Midas'
1888
single work
review
— Appears in: Illustrated London News , 6 October 1888; (p. 410)
— Review of Madame Midas : A Realistic and Sensational Story of Australian Mining Life 1888 single work novel ; The Mystery of a Hansom Cab 1886 single work novel -
[Review] The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Lifted Brow , no. 14 2012; (p. 27)
— Review of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab 1886 single work novel -
Reading Melbourne
1995
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 23 April 1995; (p. 8)
— Review of Take Me to Paris, Johnny 1993 single work autobiography ; The Cardboard Crown 1952 single work novel ; The Getting of Wisdom 1910 single work novel ; The Nightmarkets : A Novel 1986 sequence novel ; The Life and Death of Sandy Stone 1990 single work drama ; The Mystery of a Hansom Cab 1886 single work novel -
Past Masters of Future Wrongs
2003
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 6-7 September 2003; (p. 2-3) -
Reflecting the Detectives : Crime Fiction and the New Journalism in Late Nineteenth-Century Australia
2005
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 22 no. 1 2005; (p. 61-72) Examines patterns in the relationship between newspaper accounts of sensational crimes and crime fiction published in the late 1880s. -
Death of Fergus Hume
1932
single work
obituary
(for Fergus Hume
)
— Appears in: All About Books , 12 September vol. 4 no. 9 1932; (p. 143) -
Popular Reading Taste During the Century
1935
single work
prose
— Appears in: All About Books , 12 April vol. 7 no. 4 1935; (p. 63-64) -
Some Early Australian Novels Valuable
1936
single work
column
— Appears in: All About Books , 13 January vol. 8 no. 1 1936; (p. 9)
- Melbourne, Victoria,
- 1880s