Mystery of a Hansom Cab, The

When a man is found murdered inside a Melbourne hansom cab at the end of his journey, the police quickly find out who he was and ascertain that he has been robbed of a certain piece of paper. But what did the document contain, and who was prepared to kill to him for it? First published in Australia in 1886, and described by John Sutherland as the nineteenth century's 'most sensationally popular crime and detective novel', The Mystery of a Hansom Cab sold out in three weeks and went on to sell more than half a million copies worldwide. With 'more twists and turns than a python swallowing a corkscrew' (Anthony Gardner, from the foreword) and considerably ahead of its time in both format and content, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab remains, over a century later, as thrilling as the very best of Sherlock Holmes.