of the first Sherlock Holmes book, Fergusson Wright Hume (1859–1932) had the honor of writing the bestselling mystery novel of the nineteenth century, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886). He paid to have it published in Australia, but it quickly had a modest success and he sold all rights to a group of English investors called the Hansom Cab Publishing Company for fifty pounds sterling (not unlike Arthur Conan Doyle, who sold all rights to A Study in Scarlet for twenty-five pounds in 1887). It went on to sell more than a half million copies.
Although he had studied to be a barrister, Hume wanted to be a writer and once described how his famous book came to be written. He asked a Melbourne bookseller what sort of book sold best. The bookseller replied that “the detective stories of [Emile] Gaboriau had a large sale; and, as, at this time, I had never even heard of this author, I bought all his works…and I determined to write a book of the same class; containing a mystery, a murder, and a description of low life in Melbourne. This was the origin of Cab.” Hume went on to write an additional 130 novels—all of which have been largely forgotten.
The protagonist in “The Mandarin” is Hagar Stanley, a Gypsy and the niece of a miserly and corrupt owner of a pawnshop in London, where she is employed. Pretty, smart, and honest, she soon learns the trade, becoming an expert in various areas of antiques, and largely takes over the running of the shop. Known for her decency and fearlessness, she is quick to help people in righting wrongs and works as an amateur detective to that end. In the last story, Hagar gets married, and the happy couple become professional traveling booksellers.
“The Mandarin” was originally published in the author’s short story collection Hagar of the Pawn-Shop (London, Skeffington & Son, 1898).