The Clock Struck One

by Fergus Hume

Julian Edermont lives at the Red House with his ward, Dora Carew and his old friend, Lambert Joad. But things are amiss at the House. First, Edermont suffers a panic attack at church, during the section of the Litany that prays for deliverance from murder and sudden death. Then, he has a terrible argument with Dora's fiancee, Dr. Allen Scott. When Edermont is found beaten to death in his study, his strange behaviour becomes the key to unlocking a terrible crime - and Dora is forced to turn detective... Originally published in 1898, this is another thrilling Victorian murder mystery from the pen of prolific crime writer Fergus Hume.

Genres: Mystery, Classics

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1898

About the author

Fergusson Wright Hume (1859–1932), New Zealand lawyer and prolific author particularly renowned for his debut novel, the international best-seller The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886).

Hume was born at Powick, Worcestershire, England, son of Glaswegian Dr. James Collin Hume, a steward at the Worcestershire Pauper Lunatic Asylum and his wife Mary Ferguson.

While Fergus was a very young child, in 1863 the Humes emigrated to New Zealand where James founded the first private mental hospital and Dunedin College. Young Fergus attended the Otago Boys' High School then went on to study law at Otago University. He followed up with articling in the attorney-general's office, called to the New Zealand bar in 1885.

In 1885 Hume moved to Melbourne. While he worked as a solicitors clerk he was bent on becoming a dramatist; but having only written a few short stories he was a virtual unknown. So as to gain the attentions of the theatre directors he asked a local bookseller what style of book he sold most. Emile Gaboriau's detective works were very popular and so Hume bought them all and studied them intently, thus turning his pen to writing his own style of crime novel and mystery.

Hume spent much time in Little Bourke Street to gather material and his first effort was The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886), a worthy contibution to the genre. It is full of literary references and quotations; finely crafted complex characters and their sometimes ambiguous seeming interrelationships with the other suspects, deepening the whodunit angle. It is somewhat of an exposé of the then extremes in Melbourne society, which caused some controversy for a time. Hume had it published privately after it had been downright rudely rejected by a number of publishers. "Having completed the book, I tried to get it published, but everyone to whom I offered it refused even to look at the manuscript on the grounds that no Colonial could write anything worth reading." He had sold the publishing rights for £50, but still retained the dramatic rights which he soon profited from by the long Australian and London theatre runs.

Except for short trips to France, Switzerland and Italy, in 1888 Hume settled and stayed in Essex, England where he would remain for the rest of his life. Although he was born, and lived the latter part of his life, in England, he thought of himself as 'a colonial' and identified as a New Zealander, having spent all of his formative years from preschool through to adulthood there. Hume died of cardiac failure at his home on 11 July 1932.

Reviews

[Jazzy Lemon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could hardly wait to see what would happen next and if Dora would learn the secret no one would tell her. Poor Dora, she was only a woman after all.

[Jon Hembree · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to rate this book higher. For most of the mystery, it really kept my attention, wanting to know this great secret that was being held from our main character. Then we throw in murder that helps keep that secret hidden as well. It had me intrigued.

But as you figure out the secret, you aren't really introduced to the murderer until the last couple chapters. So not long after you are introduced, you find out he's the killer, and then everything wraps up in a nice, neat little bow.

That unraveled it for me...but because the majority really kept me guessing, I'll give it 3 stars.

[Mark Rabideau · Rating 3 out of 5]

The moral burdens under which these characters labor(ed) are astonishing. If you want to get a good feel for how bad things were in the late 1800s this tale will do the trick. The story is okay, the Librivox reader I had was amazingly weird.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could not read it any other way than as a parody to a mystery novel. For teens.

[Keller Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good and enjoyable mystery. I enjoyed he main characters and eagerly looked forward to the conclusion of the story to determine everyone’s fate.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nah. 2 pounds of secrets per page. But not compelling ones. At least not to a modern reader.