Transcriber's Notes:
1. Page scan source:
http://arrow.latrobe.edu.au/store
/3/4/6/5/2/public/B26995177.pdf
La Trobe University, Melbourne Australia
SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS
ON
"The Carbuncle Clue."
BY FERGUS HUME.
UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME.
"Everywhere throughout its source there is evident the same wonderful originality that distinguished his first success. It is as clever a piece of detective story writing as 'The Leavenworth Case.'"--Dundee Advertiser.
"To say that Mr. Fergus Home's 'The Carbuncle Clue' is one of his best stories hardly does justice to its merits. Very clever must be the reader who, in the earlier chapters, finds even a faint clue in this labyrinth of crime and intrigue."--Morning Post.
"It is in all truth a mystery, and one which when dipped into will be followed with the greatest interest in all its maze of detail. There is scarcely one of the opening chapters that does not reveal some new, startling, and apparently inexplicable fact."--The Scotsman.
"Among the more successful of the purveyors of the detective order of fiction is Mr. Fergus Hume. All who love mystery will find his last story exactly to their taste."--Publishers' Circular.
"We were becoming afraid that Mr. Hume was over-producing--a fear greatly allayed by 'The Carbuncle Clue.' Mr. Hume keeps his story well in hand, and although the mystery changes its aspect many times, he never allows it to drag; and in the end he springs the secret on us in a way that effectually discounts any feeling of superiority we may have cherished as to our powers of playing the amateur detective."--Literary World.
"Apart from the author's reputation, 'The Carbuncle Clue,' standing on its own undoubted merits, will commend itself to those of the reading public who can admire a clever plot, with just a sufficient dash of sensationalism. The skilful manner in which the plot is evolved and the machinations of the conspirators disclosed, place the work on a much higher level than the average detective story."--Chester Courant.
"A capital story, one that will hold its reader enthralled to the end. The clever detective--Mr. Fanks, alias Rixton--is, we think greatly superior to Mr. Sherlock Holmes and his many followers, inasmuch as he is not omniscient, and is quite capable of making mistakes and getting exasperated over them. He follows the slender clue with the sagacity and patience of a bloodhound, and the mystery is so well maintained that its solution only breaks on us as we turn the last page.--Pall Pall Gazette.
"Mr. Hume is great in mysteries, but almost excels himself in the complications of this carbuncle clue. It is brightly and briskly written, and goes on without a hitch or momentary loss of interest from beginning to end. The actors are admirably described. It is the ordinary man and woman that Mr. Hume brings on the stage, and he pulls the wires so deftly that it is with a sigh of regret that we close the book. The publishing world has been inundated with detective stories recently, but if all were so good as 'The Carbuncle Clue' there would not be much reason to complain of the fashion."--Manchester Courier.
"One of the best detective stories that have appeared for a long time."--Manchester Guardian.
"The whole plot is very ingeniously contrived. The interest never flags, and, together with the mystery, is kept up to the very end of the story."--Glasgow Herald.
"In 'The Carbuncle Clue' the author elucidates with his accustomed skill a highly mysterious murder. The story is thrilling and ingenious."--Yorkshire Post.
"Mr. Fergus Hume is a wonderful producer of books, and he proves himself the possessor of considerable resource, while he is also very versatile. 'The Carbuncle Clue' will be read with avidity by lovers of this particular class of work, while it will also be found to contain a goodly share of attraction for the general novel reader."--Western Daily Mercury.
"For some time past the feeling has been that the detective story has had its day, living only in the memory of the immortal Sherlock Holmes. After perusing the mystery of 'The Carbuncle Clue,' however, we feel inclined to change our mind. Mr. Fergus Hume has a more than ordinary talent for the making and unravelling of enigmas."--Liverpool Mercury.
"There are few weavers of mystery like Mr. Fergus Hume. In 'The Carbuncle Clue' his best qualities as an adept in the art of mystification are apparent. He is a magician in mystery and a wizard in working up a sensation without divulging the denouement until the opportune moment."--Newsagent.
"A splendid story, and the identity of the murderer of the unknown man so mysteriously found stabbed to death in the chambers of a man about town is cleverly concealed until the last. There is not a dull line in the book, and the interest is never for a moment allowed to flag."--Blackburn Times.
"A story replete with sensational excitement from the first to the last. In our opinion it is one of the best novels he has yet produced."--The People.
"A peculiar faculty is necessary for the composition of a really ingenious story of the detective type, and Mr. Fergus Hume undeniably possesses it in an unusual degree. 'The Carbuncle Clue' is a really clever piece of work of its school. The mystery suffices to keep the reader on the alert till he comes to the final page."--Court Journal.