The Turnpike House

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

2.8

Word count: 409K words
Chapters: 41

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 Turnpike House by Fergus HumeAuthor: Hume, Fergus, 1859-1932,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Oct 20, 2017

Editor's review

This novel comes from the hand of Fergus Hume, a prolific mystery novelist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and is a typical example of English plot-driven suspense fiction. The title's "Turnpike House" is itself an evocative image of enclosed space, and the story unfolds around a mansion, with relationships and secrets layered gradually and a slow pace but closely woven clues. Its value lies in letting readers experience the narrative pleasures of late Victorian popular fiction: misunderstandings, identity puzzles, and moral tests interwoven, so that reading feels like piecing together a jigsaw from an older era. It works well as an introductory text for understanding Hume's style, and also for reading in sections on quiet evenings, savoring the tension of slow-burning suspense. As a public-domain e-book, the text has no modern introduction or notes, so readers must adapt on their own to old-fashioned English expression and the historical background.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy late Victorian English suspense and mansion settings
English learners who want low-cost access to classic public-domain novels
Mystery fans who prefer a slow pace and atmosphere over strong action

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting fast-paced modern thrillers with strong reversals
Readers unaccustomed to nineteenth-century English and lengthy descriptive passages
Students who need detailed notes or scholarly introductions to aid understanding

Reading tips

Read the first two or three chapters first, and continue only after confirming you can adapt to the old-fashioned English narrative rhythm.
Jot down characters as they appear and the spatial relationships within the mansion to help clarify the network of clues.
If reading stalls, consult a Chinese translation or summary to grasp the main plot.
After finishing, revisit key chapters to check whether foreshadowing was planted early on.

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 the original English edition, and how difficult is it to read?

This is an English public-domain e-book released by Project Gutenberg, written in the English of the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries, with long sentences and period-flavored vocabulary. Readers with a college-level foundation in English can finish it with a dictionary, but it requires patience and is not suitable for complete beginners to read straight through.

Why are there no modern notes or introduction?

Project Gutenberg mainly provides electronic texts of public-domain originals and usually does not add modern editorial notes, introductions, or background analysis. Readers who need supplementary material can look up the historical background and stylistic features of the author Fergus Hume themselves, or consult relevant literary history sources.

Is it suitable as an introductory mystery read?

Yes, but expectations should be adjusted. Hume's work is closer to plot-driven suspense and popular romance, emphasizing atmosphere, misunderstandings, and characters' secrets rather than the tightly constructed tricks of modern fair-play detective fiction. It is better suited as a sample for understanding early English suspense fiction; those seeking a fair-play puzzle experience may find it insufficient.

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.