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The Silent House
Fergusson Wright Hume, known as Fergus Hume (1859-1932) was an English novelist who moved to New Zealand at the age of three.
Shortly after graduation in Otago he left for Melbourne. He began writing plays, but found it impossible to persuade the managers of the Melbourne theatres to accept or even read them.
Finding that the novels of Emile Gaboriau were then very popular in Melbourne, he obtained and read a set of them and determined to write a novel of a similar kind. The result was the self-published novel 'The Mystery of a Hansom Cab' (1886), which became a great success.
After the success of his first novel and the publication of another he returned to England in 1888. He resided in the Essex countryside for thirty years, eventually producing over 100 novels and short stories.
He was a capable writer of mystery stories, and may be looked upon as one of the precursors of the many writers of detective stories whose work was so popular in the twentieth century. His other works include 'Madame Midas' (1888), 'The Silent House in Pimlico' (1899), 'The Bishop's Secret' (1900), 'Secret Passage' (1905), 'The Green Mummy' (1908), and 'Red Money' (1912).
Shortly after graduation in Otago he left for Melbourne. He began writing plays, but found it impossible to persuade the managers of the Melbourne theatres to accept or even read them.
Finding that the novels of Emile Gaboriau were then very popular in Melbourne, he obtained and read a set of them and determined to write a novel of a similar kind. The result was the self-published novel 'The Mystery of a Hansom Cab' (1886), which became a great success.
After the success of his first novel and the publication of another he returned to England in 1888. He resided in the Essex countryside for thirty years, eventually producing over 100 novels and short stories.
He was a capable writer of mystery stories, and may be looked upon as one of the precursors of the many writers of detective stories whose work was so popular in the twentieth century. His other works include 'Madame Midas' (1888), 'The Silent House in Pimlico' (1899), 'The Bishop's Secret' (1900), 'Secret Passage' (1905), 'The Green Mummy' (1908), and 'Red Money' (1912).
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First published January 1, 1899
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About the author
Fergus Hume
859 books51 followersFergusson 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 24, 2020
I Dare You!
Who killed the old man in that haunted house in Pimlico? You’ll never find out yourself, I dare you! I never read any novel by Fergus Hume before for the simple reason that I had never heard about the English-born author, who moved with his parents to Nea Zealand when he was three years old. And yet, Hume was as prolific an author as Edgar Wallace, and he also wrote in the same genre. Lots and lots of crime novels, which made me buy the Delphi Collection on his works for my e-reader.
In The Silent House in Pimlico, which was published in 1899, our protagonist is the briefless, though not clueless, young lawyer Lucian Denzil, who stumbles into a mysterious murder case when he finds that an old man, who lives in an old house in his neighbourhood, has been gruesomely killed with a stiletto. The old man was a drunkard and he always hinted that he had certain enemies who wished to see him dead, and soon he is identified as a wealthy man by the name of Mark Vrain by his widow, a scheming minx, who has evidently married her husband for his money and has driven Vrain’s daughter Diana out of their house. Now, Diana wants the murderer to be brought to justice, and since the police are soon at the end of their tether, the lofty young lady teams up with the lawyer to shed some light into this mystery. Was it the scheming Lydia Vrain who ordered her husband to be killed? And what has the dubious Italian Count Ferucci to do with the murder? Both of them have cast-iron alibis …
Although Fergus’s bigotry with regard to women and non-English people can at times be rather annoying, he manages to create suspense and to make both Lucian and Diana interesting and likeable, and there’s also some wry humour now and then. This is certainly not great literature, but I felt so well-entertained on the whole that this is surely not going to be the last novel by Fergus Hume that I will read. It’s good for a quick, undemanding read.
Who killed the old man in that haunted house in Pimlico? You’ll never find out yourself, I dare you! I never read any novel by Fergus Hume before for the simple reason that I had never heard about the English-born author, who moved with his parents to Nea Zealand when he was three years old. And yet, Hume was as prolific an author as Edgar Wallace, and he also wrote in the same genre. Lots and lots of crime novels, which made me buy the Delphi Collection on his works for my e-reader.
In The Silent House in Pimlico, which was published in 1899, our protagonist is the briefless, though not clueless, young lawyer Lucian Denzil, who stumbles into a mysterious murder case when he finds that an old man, who lives in an old house in his neighbourhood, has been gruesomely killed with a stiletto. The old man was a drunkard and he always hinted that he had certain enemies who wished to see him dead, and soon he is identified as a wealthy man by the name of Mark Vrain by his widow, a scheming minx, who has evidently married her husband for his money and has driven Vrain’s daughter Diana out of their house. Now, Diana wants the murderer to be brought to justice, and since the police are soon at the end of their tether, the lofty young lady teams up with the lawyer to shed some light into this mystery. Was it the scheming Lydia Vrain who ordered her husband to be killed? And what has the dubious Italian Count Ferucci to do with the murder? Both of them have cast-iron alibis …
Although Fergus’s bigotry with regard to women and non-English people can at times be rather annoying, he manages to create suspense and to make both Lucian and Diana interesting and likeable, and there’s also some wry humour now and then. This is certainly not great literature, but I felt so well-entertained on the whole that this is surely not going to be the last novel by Fergus Hume that I will read. It’s good for a quick, undemanding read.
July 13, 2018
I have become a fan of Fergus Hume, and this mystery from 1899 just solidifies that feeling. If you like the Sherlock Holmes type of story, where the reader is offered few ways to solve the mystery for themselves, then this is a book for you. Like an onion, the solution to this murder tale is peeled back one layer at a time. And, in addition to the mystery, we are introduced to a highly likable Victorian couple. Romance is handled the old fashioned way. There are a handful of suspects to pick from, and as in previous mysteries by Fergus Hume, the solution is explained in an orderly fashion. Do give this 4 1/2 star book a try!
December 18, 2022
Letto nell'edizione italiana di Lindau, che non c'è nel database.
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September 23, 2012Listening to this on audio (it's a free one): http://librivox.org/the-silent-house-... Pretty good so far :-).
Update...lost a little steam in the middle and switched over to something else. Hope to get back to it.
Update...lost a little steam in the middle and switched over to something else. Hope to get back to it.
January 21, 2023
(Recensione completa sul blog Sololibri.net)
• Un estratto dalla recensione:
“L’abilità di Fergus Hume risiede nel raccontare gli eventi che si susseguono in modo diretto e lineare, attraverso il ricorso a una prosa semplice e fluida, ben bilanciata tra le parti narrative e descrittive e quelle riservate ai dialoghi, strettamente interconnesse tra loro e funzionali alla rivelazione del delitto e alla scoperta di chi lo ha commesso.
La trama sembrerebbe assumere una struttura “a matrioska russa”, dove ogni breve capitolo potrebbe identificarsi metaforicamente nelle fattezze di una “bambola grande” che, pagina dopo pagina, il lettore è fortemente motivato, quasi costretto, ad aprire per scoprire cosa rivela al suo interno la bambola più piccola, e così via, in un gioco incalzante di infinite scoperte, caratterizzato da risvolti inaspettati e improvvisi colpi di scena carichi di suspense.”
• Un estratto dalla recensione:
“L’abilità di Fergus Hume risiede nel raccontare gli eventi che si susseguono in modo diretto e lineare, attraverso il ricorso a una prosa semplice e fluida, ben bilanciata tra le parti narrative e descrittive e quelle riservate ai dialoghi, strettamente interconnesse tra loro e funzionali alla rivelazione del delitto e alla scoperta di chi lo ha commesso.
La trama sembrerebbe assumere una struttura “a matrioska russa”, dove ogni breve capitolo potrebbe identificarsi metaforicamente nelle fattezze di una “bambola grande” che, pagina dopo pagina, il lettore è fortemente motivato, quasi costretto, ad aprire per scoprire cosa rivela al suo interno la bambola più piccola, e così via, in un gioco incalzante di infinite scoperte, caratterizzato da risvolti inaspettati e improvvisi colpi di scena carichi di suspense.”
June 7, 2011
An excellent mystery/thriller
April 1, 2012
Fun easy read mystery.
March 28, 2021
Great fast paced story with short chapters so no time to get bored; need to concentrate as there’s lots of characters;
December 11, 2022
I'm certain the book deserves more, but I came across the Italian translation and read it in my native language. I must say that the translation work is god awful and prevented me from properly enjoying the narration.
April 21, 2018
Absorbing mystery / romance with several reader from Librivox.
July 8, 2021
This was just not particularly interesting to me.
October 3, 2021
Enjoyed this one. Good mystery, reasonable main characters…meaning no one did anything silly to make me roll my eyes.
November 7, 2022
An underwhelming mystery that felt like a slog to get through. Very happy I listened to the audiobook as there were several areas that were overly long and that I would have skipped otherwise.
March 17, 2017
A very dated murder mystery story.
Too much time spent on describing a woman’s appearance in relation to her character. Painfully Victorian (the society, condescension of other cultures, and the prioritization of “values”). About a quarter of the way through I just skipped to the very end to find out who-done-it and was not surprised.
Too much time spent on describing a woman’s appearance in relation to her character. Painfully Victorian (the society, condescension of other cultures, and the prioritization of “values”). About a quarter of the way through I just skipped to the very end to find out who-done-it and was not surprised.
October 19, 2017
Connie
This was far fetched and not as enjoyable as Humes other stories!!!! I would not tell anyone not to read it but you won’t miss much if you don’t read it!!!!
It’s just ok!!!!
This was far fetched and not as enjoyable as Humes other stories!!!! I would not tell anyone not to read it but you won’t miss much if you don’t read it!!!!
It’s just ok!!!!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews