The Red Bicycle

Fergus Hume (Fergusson Wright Hume)Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 338K words
Chapters: 34

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Red Bicycle by Fergus HumeAuthor: Hume, Fergus, 1859-1932,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Oct 13, 2017

Editor's review

The Red Bicycle is a detective novel by Fergus Hume, an author known for plotting and suspense. The red bicycle of the title is both a running clue and an evidentiary image that drives the investigation, around which pursuit and deduction unfold. It has the typical temper of late Victorian popular detective fiction: interlocking motives, information released gradually, and truth revealed after repeated reversals. For readers curious about Hume's craft or the genealogy of early English detective fiction, it offers a lightweight sample; its length and pace also suit分段 reading on a commute or before sleep. Note that the work is early, and some social attitudes and narrative methods bear the marks of their time; read it with a literary-historical eye rather than judging it by contemporary forensic logic. Overall, it works best as leisure reading and an introductory reference in the genre.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy late Victorian detective fiction and classical deduction
English literature enthusiasts curious about Fergus Hume's style
Commuters who need light English reading they can take in segments

Not a good fit for

Deduction readers who prefer modern hard-boiled investigation, forensic detail, and rigorous logic
Readers sensitive to period social attitudes in early fiction who are unwilling to make contextual allowances

Reading tips

Treat the red bicycle as a clue marker; when it appears, note the scene and the characters connected to it.
Proceed chapter by chapter and summarize each new clue in one sentence to keep information from piling up.
If reading the English original, read for plot first and revisit dialogue later to reduce pauses caused by period language.
After finishing, compare it with common patterns in early detective fiction and consider the book's choices in building suspense.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a novel or a short story?

The data does not specify length and identifies the text only as an electronic release from Project Gutenberg. Given Hume's usual practice, it is likely a full-length detective novel with a complete plot, and readers can read it in chapters.

Can I read this without having read other works by Hume?

Yes. It is a standalone story that does not depend on earlier works. To understand Hume's place in the genre, you can look up background on his major works afterward; no preparation is required.

Is the red bicycle important in the story?

Judging by the title, it is a central image and clue carrier. The data does not detail the plot; as you read, note the characters and information it brings forward each time it appears, and trace its narrative function for yourself.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Fergus Hume (Fergusson Wright Hume) Author · English · 1859–1932

Fergus Hume (1859–1932) was a British novelist. Born in England, he moved with his family to New Zealand as a child, studied at the University of Otago and qualified as a lawyer. In 1885 he went to Melbourne, and the following year he published The Mystery of a Hansom Cab at his own expense, achieving instant fame; the book is regarded as a bestselling classic in the history of detective fiction. In 1888 Hume returned to England to settle, and thereafter devoted himself to detective and suspense fiction, producing more than a hundred works in his lifetime, of which 66 are held in this collection, including The Silent House, The Gentleman Who Vanished and The Spider. He died in Essex in 1932.