Madame Midas

Fergus Hume wrote over 140 novels but even with the huge success of "The Mystery of the Hansom Cab" none of the others brought him the fame he desired and, apart from the resurrection of "Madame Midas" in the Hogarth Press "Gaslight Crime" series, almost all of them are out of print. Initially Miss Curt......more

Madam Midas is an enjoyable read despite being laden with melodrama. Well written and at ease with itself, there’s an effortlessness about Fergus Hume’s style. Melbourne and Ballarat circa 1888 are depicted vividly with plenty of social commentary, especially on the plight of women, rich and poor,......more

Ideologically this is trash with its hyperindividualism (especially the unnecessary rant about everyone being self-interested) and the heroine of the book being a sort of gina rinehart figure (Claire Wright makes that point too in the introduction) except prettier. In terms of the experience of read......more

Scoundrels, cads, blackguard! Fergus Hume's Madame Midas has several and none worse than the young prison escapee who makes it to Australia with the intent to strike it rich one way or another. Madame is a woman whose husband 'has done her wrong' and spent her riches. She now is working to regain he......more

Fergus Hume Read-All #8 of 14x Well This one is a mess. It starts with a redemption of a fugitive, but he reccess to his greed. There is a crime, but the victmim lives, then disappears. The setting changes too much. It seems that he was half done with this book and the success of Hansom Cab hit, so he put......more