The Mystery of a Hansom Cab: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, credited to Fergus Hume, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

“The following report appeared in the Argus newspaper of Saturday, the 28th July, 18-- “Truth is said to be stranger than fiction, and certainly the extraordinary murder which took place in Melbourne on Thursday night, or rather Friday morning, goes a long way towards verifying this saying. A crime has been committed by an unknown assassin, within a short distance of the principal streets of this great city, and is surrounded by an inpenetrable mystery. … “On the twenty-seventh day of July, at the hour of twenty minutes to two o'clock in the morning, a hansom cab drove up to the police station in Grey Street, St. Kilda, and the driver made the startling statement that his cab contained the body of a man who he had reason to believe had been murdered….” (Excerpt from the first chapter.) NOTE: The preface of this work mentions the culprit of the "whodunit" - which may spoil the project for some listeners. Be advised to skip the preface or listen to it at the end if you'd like to be surprised by the outcome of the story.

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
• Author credits: Fergus Hume
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 36
• Listed recording duration: 7:41:50

Catalogue topics

• mystery
• murder
• fiction

Opening tracks: first 24 of 36

1. 00 - Preface — 6:28
2. 01 - What the Argus Said — 9:34
3. 02 - Evidence at the Inquest — 10:03
4. 03 - One Hundred Pounds Reward — 1:12
5. 04 - Mr. Gorby Makes a Start — 7:56
6. 05 - Mrs. Hableton Unbosoms Herself — 13:52
7. 06 - Mr. Gorby Makes Further Discoveries — 14:50
8. 07 - The Wool King — 16:04
9. 08 - Brian Takes a Walk and a Drive — 17:36
10. 09 - Mr. Gorby is Satisfied at Last — 20:48
11. 10 - In the Queen's Name — 14:30
12. 11 - Counsel for the Prisoner — 15:38
13. 12 - She was a True Woman — 16:09
14. 13 - Madge Makes a Discovery — 17:06
15. 14 - Another Richmond in the Field — 12:54
16. 15 - A Woman of the People — 16:21
17. 16 - Missing — 10:42
18. 17 - The Trial — 17:39
19. 18 - Sal Rawlins Tells All She Knows — 12:03
20. 19 - The Verdict of the Jury — 17:12
21. 20 - The Argus Gives its Opinion — 7:31
22. 21 - Three Months Afterward — 14:38
23. 22 - A Daughter of Eve — 9:58
24. 23 - Across the Walnuts and the Wine — 13:30

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.