Hume spent much time in Little Bourke Street to gather material and his first effort was The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886), a worthy contibution to the genre. Emile Gaboriau's detective works were very popular and so Hume bought them all and studied them intently, thus turning his pen to writing his own style of crime novel and mystery. So as to gain the attentions of the theatre directors he asked a local bookseller what style of book he sold most. While he worked as a solicitors clerk he was bent on becoming a dramatist but having only written a few short stories he was a virtual unknown. He followed up with articling in the attorney-general's office, called to the New Zealand bar in 1885. Young Fergus attended the Otago Boys' High School then went on to study law at Otago University. While Fergus was a very young child, in 1863 the Humes emigrated to New Zealand where James founded the first private mental hospital and Dunedin College. James Collin Hume, a steward at the Worcestershire Pauper Lunatic Asylum and his wife Mary Ferguson. Hume was born at Powick, Worcestershire, England, son of Glaswegian Dr. Fergusson Wright Hume (1859–1932), New Zealand lawyer and prolific author particularly renowned for his debut novel, the international best-seller The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886).
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