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The Hunchback of Westminster
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179 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1904
About the author
William Le Queux
553 books30 followersNovelist William Tufnell Le Queux was born in London on 2 July 1864. His father, also William of Chateauroux, Indre, was a French draper's assistant and his mother was English.
He was educated in Europe and studied art under Ignazio Spiridon in Paris. He walked extensively in France and Germany and supported himself for a time writing for French newspapers. It was one of his sensational stories in The Petit Journal that attracted the attention of the French novelist Emile Zola and it was supposedly he who encouraged Le Queux to become a full-time writer.
In the late 1880s he returned to London where he edited the Gossip and Piccadilly magazines before joining the staff of The Globe newspaper in 1891 as a parliamentary reporter. But he resigned in 1893 and decided to abandon journalism to concentrate on writing and travelling. And his extensive travelling saw him visit Russia, the Near East, North Africa, Egypt and the Sudan and in 1912–13 he was a correspondent in the Balkan War for the Daily Mail. On his travels he found it necessary to become an expert revolver shot.
His first book was Guilty Bonds (1891), which concentrated on political conspiracy in Russia to such a degree that it was subsequently banned in that country. A series of short stories Strange Tales of a Nihilist followed in 1892 and from then on he was producing books on a regular basis until his death, and beyond, as a number of posthumous works were published.
His works mainly related to espionage activity and it was said that he was employed for a number of years as a member of the British Secret Service, where he was an expert on wireless transmission. He did claim to have been the first wireless experimenter to have broadcast from his station at Guildford in 1920/21 and he was president of the Wireless Experimental Association and a member of the Institute of Radio Engineers.
He stated at one time that he began writing to help finance his work for British Intelligence for whom he was required to undertake much travelling and to make personal contact with royalty and other high-ranking people. He recorded some of the latter meetings in his autobiography entitled Things I Know about Kings, Celebrities and Crooks (1923).
He was at one time Consul of the Republic of San Marino and he possessed Italian, Serbian and Montenegrin decorations. He was also a keen collector of medieval manuscripts and monastic seals.
However, all his activities did not stop him turning out novel after novel and at the time of his death he had well over 100 books to his credit.
After several weeks' illness, he died at Knocke, Belgium, in the early hours of 13 October 1927. His body was returned to England and on 19 October he was cremated at Golders Green with the Reverend Francis Taylor of Bedford conducting the service, which was attended by Le Queux's brother and a few intimate friends. (Gerry Wolstenholme, January 2013)
He was educated in Europe and studied art under Ignazio Spiridon in Paris. He walked extensively in France and Germany and supported himself for a time writing for French newspapers. It was one of his sensational stories in The Petit Journal that attracted the attention of the French novelist Emile Zola and it was supposedly he who encouraged Le Queux to become a full-time writer.
In the late 1880s he returned to London where he edited the Gossip and Piccadilly magazines before joining the staff of The Globe newspaper in 1891 as a parliamentary reporter. But he resigned in 1893 and decided to abandon journalism to concentrate on writing and travelling. And his extensive travelling saw him visit Russia, the Near East, North Africa, Egypt and the Sudan and in 1912–13 he was a correspondent in the Balkan War for the Daily Mail. On his travels he found it necessary to become an expert revolver shot.
His first book was Guilty Bonds (1891), which concentrated on political conspiracy in Russia to such a degree that it was subsequently banned in that country. A series of short stories Strange Tales of a Nihilist followed in 1892 and from then on he was producing books on a regular basis until his death, and beyond, as a number of posthumous works were published.
His works mainly related to espionage activity and it was said that he was employed for a number of years as a member of the British Secret Service, where he was an expert on wireless transmission. He did claim to have been the first wireless experimenter to have broadcast from his station at Guildford in 1920/21 and he was president of the Wireless Experimental Association and a member of the Institute of Radio Engineers.
He stated at one time that he began writing to help finance his work for British Intelligence for whom he was required to undertake much travelling and to make personal contact with royalty and other high-ranking people. He recorded some of the latter meetings in his autobiography entitled Things I Know about Kings, Celebrities and Crooks (1923).
He was at one time Consul of the Republic of San Marino and he possessed Italian, Serbian and Montenegrin decorations. He was also a keen collector of medieval manuscripts and monastic seals.
However, all his activities did not stop him turning out novel after novel and at the time of his death he had well over 100 books to his credit.
After several weeks' illness, he died at Knocke, Belgium, in the early hours of 13 October 1927. His body was returned to England and on 19 October he was cremated at Golders Green with the Reverend Francis Taylor of Bedford conducting the service, which was attended by Le Queux's brother and a few intimate friends. (Gerry Wolstenholme, January 2013)
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 22, 2026
This book started off with a massive bang. Hidden treasure, international intrigue, heroics, shady characters, imposters, secret sects, mysterious initiations, ciphers, an out-of-control flying machine, translations, derring-do, and hell's bells, a hunchback thrown in the mix from the very get go!
After the first act, however, it began a descent into a gloomy pit of ungainly exposition, ludicrous dialogue, insufferable protagonists, unlikely plot devices, and an unnecessarily protracted explanation of irregular international affairs. Finishing the book was a torrid affair.
One need only glance at author Le Queux's biography to understand how the story could have gone so wrong. He's foisted his own nationalistic/patriotic concepts as a British diplomat (albeit honorary) and bloated understanding of international and religious affairs throughout the book, and the dialogues between the two primary protagonists and countless antagonists carry all the subtlety of a burning dumpster. Even for a book written in 1904, and admittedly not without a touch of prescience, it's all a bit much.
This is the first Le Queux book I've read - I have his collected works, so I'm (arguably) somewhat committed to read more - but if I come across similar pap in my next selection from his catalog, I may have to commit the collection to a digital cemetery.
Two stars. I didn't hate it, and there were gripping passages early on. The grip was lost, however, in the oily pages that followed.
After the first act, however, it began a descent into a gloomy pit of ungainly exposition, ludicrous dialogue, insufferable protagonists, unlikely plot devices, and an unnecessarily protracted explanation of irregular international affairs. Finishing the book was a torrid affair.
One need only glance at author Le Queux's biography to understand how the story could have gone so wrong. He's foisted his own nationalistic/patriotic concepts as a British diplomat (albeit honorary) and bloated understanding of international and religious affairs throughout the book, and the dialogues between the two primary protagonists and countless antagonists carry all the subtlety of a burning dumpster. Even for a book written in 1904, and admittedly not without a touch of prescience, it's all a bit much.
This is the first Le Queux book I've read - I have his collected works, so I'm (arguably) somewhat committed to read more - but if I come across similar pap in my next selection from his catalog, I may have to commit the collection to a digital cemetery.
Two stars. I didn't hate it, and there were gripping passages early on. The grip was lost, however, in the oily pages that followed.
February 12, 2025
Well this edition of my book isn't listed as one written in 1904 and this hardback cover is dated 1921 published by Cheap Form, and my cover is different to the others. It must be the smallest hardback cover I've ever owned! It's an amazingly small book and it's falling apart and the 223 pages are very brownish. I bought it from a charity shop last month and have just got round to reading it.
It's about Hugh Glynn a barrister who turns into a Secret Investigator and is approached by a spanish gentleman to deliver a letter to a prominent politician at Westminster Parliament. He is paid a very handsome amount of money to do this. He does so and meets a very distinguished politician, whose answer to the letter was yes. The spanish Don Jose Casteno wants him to go to an auction and bid for 3 manuscripts and his maximum amount to be bid is £2,500. He goes along but finds himself being pushed out of the bidding and then a man dressed like him jumps upon to the box he was standing on and shoves him off and begins bidding heavily, way past £2,500. He goes back to his office battered and bruised and distraught that he didn't get the 3 manuscripts. Casteno comes back to and hatches a plan. The plot thickens a lot here with a jesuit monastery which isn't one, but another secret organisation. And Hugh gets sent around the country meeting women from ships arriving from America, getting dressed up as a royal engineer and getting into a hot air balloon with Casteno. There are plots and subplots aplenty and it does get very confusing, regarding a lake full of gold in Tangikano in Mexico which is apparently owned by the british government and which they want the manuscripts which were maps giving its precise location and what golden treasures were to be found in it.
I thought the storyline was sound but the comments about the English being a superior race and other countries and nationalities were not. I realise that in 1904 anyone who wasn't English was considered to be very inferior and I didn't particularly like the descriptions and references to other lower species from other countries and other colours, but it was what it was in 1904.
It's about Hugh Glynn a barrister who turns into a Secret Investigator and is approached by a spanish gentleman to deliver a letter to a prominent politician at Westminster Parliament. He is paid a very handsome amount of money to do this. He does so and meets a very distinguished politician, whose answer to the letter was yes. The spanish Don Jose Casteno wants him to go to an auction and bid for 3 manuscripts and his maximum amount to be bid is £2,500. He goes along but finds himself being pushed out of the bidding and then a man dressed like him jumps upon to the box he was standing on and shoves him off and begins bidding heavily, way past £2,500. He goes back to his office battered and bruised and distraught that he didn't get the 3 manuscripts. Casteno comes back to and hatches a plan. The plot thickens a lot here with a jesuit monastery which isn't one, but another secret organisation. And Hugh gets sent around the country meeting women from ships arriving from America, getting dressed up as a royal engineer and getting into a hot air balloon with Casteno. There are plots and subplots aplenty and it does get very confusing, regarding a lake full of gold in Tangikano in Mexico which is apparently owned by the british government and which they want the manuscripts which were maps giving its precise location and what golden treasures were to be found in it.
I thought the storyline was sound but the comments about the English being a superior race and other countries and nationalities were not. I realise that in 1904 anyone who wasn't English was considered to be very inferior and I didn't particularly like the descriptions and references to other lower species from other countries and other colours, but it was what it was in 1904.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews