The Secret Passage

The Secret Passage (1905) is a mystery novel by Fergus Hume. Although not as successful as The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886), an immediate bestseller for Hume, The Secret Passage is a gripping novel with an atmospheric intensity and tightly wound mystery worthy of the best of Victorian fiction. From an author whose work inspired Arthur Conan Doyle, The Secret Passage is a story of murder with a haunting, original conclusion.

Susan Grant, a young woman seeking employment, arrives at Rose Cottage, the home of Miss Loach. After a brief but intense interview, Susan begins working as a parlor maid, quickly discovering the high standard to which Miss Loach holds her employees. Across town, her sister Mrs. Octagon, a writer with a penchant for self-promotion, lives with her husband, Peter, and daughter, Juliet. Speaking with Juliet following afternoon tea one day, Mrs. Octagon raises the topic of her sister, whose quiet life she deeply disapproves of. At this moment, as though by a stroke of fate, her husband bursts in with the news of Miss Loach’s murder. As Jennings, a local detective, begins his investigation, he discovers a broad cast of friends, employees, and acquaintances, all of whom harbor some motive—but who could have been driven to murder? Was it Susan, whose history working for a mysterious Spaniard seems questionable at best? Was it Mrs. Octagon, from whom the topic of her sister had always drawn the bitterest of words? As The Secret Passage winds toward its cunning conclusion, one thing becomes clear—the line between malice and murder remains murky, even under the brightest of lights.

This edition of Fergus Hume’s The Secret Passage is a classic of English mystery and detective fiction reimagined for modern readers.

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