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The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
Fergus Hume · 1886
A late-night hansom cab reaches the St Kilda police station with an unidentified passenger. Detective Samuel Gorby and barrister Calton follow the clues through Melbourne's homes, courtrooms and back streets as suspicion falls on Brian Fitzgerald.
Inside this edition
Every LitLab edition is illustrated from the text itself — the world of the book mapped, its people drawn, its scenes staged. 38 plates are open to everyone in this book; here are 8 of them.
Principal and Secondary Figures, Part I
The Melbourne Street Grid
The Frettlby Home at St Kilda
At the St Kilda Police StationMalcolm Royston brings his hansom cab to the police station before dawn.
Dinner at the FrettlbysBrian and Felix discuss the murder during an evening at the Frettlby home.
The Frettlby Household
Victoria and the Murray Country
The Melbourne Streets of the Inquiry
This edition
- Title
- The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
- Author
- Fergus Hume (1859–1932)
- First published
- 1886
- Illustrated plates
- 108 original artworks · 38 open to everyone
- Chapters
- 36 · about 87,700 words
- Reading time
- 5 h 51 min
- Language
- EN
- Formats
- Read online · EPUB and PDF download with a subscription
- Publisher
- LitLab — The Illustrated Classics
- On LitLab since
- October 2026
- Rights
- Text in the public domain. Illustrations and edition © LitLab.
Neighbours in the library
Chosen by what they share with The Mystery of a Hansom Cab — the same author, the same years.