Finding that the novels of
Émile 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. He based his descriptions of low life on his knowledge of Little Bourke Street. He sold the
English and
American rights to the novel for fifty pounds, and thus derived little benefit from its success. It eventually became the top selling mystery novel of the Victorian era.
After the success of his first novel and the publication of another,
Professor Brankel's Secret (c.1886), Hume returned to England in 1888. He resided in
London for few years and then he moved to the
Essex countryside where he lived in
Thundersley for thirty years, eventually producing over 100 novels and short stories. He continued to be anxious for success as a dramatist, and at one time
Henry Irving was favourably considering one of his plays, but he died before it could be produced. Hume did not court publicity and little is known of his personal life. The writer of the obituary notice in
The Times stated that he was a deeply religious man who in his last years did much lecturing to young people's clubs and debating societies. He died at Thundersley, Essex, on
12 July 1932.
Hume 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.
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