For the Defence

Hume (1859-1932) was a prolific English novelist. Born in England, his family emigrated to New Zealand when he was three and it was here he was educated and admitted to the bar in 1885. Shortly after he relocated to Melbourne, Australia where he worked as a barrister's clerk and began writing plays without success. He then turned to mystery fiction and his first self-published work The Mystery of a Hansom Cab became the best-selling novel of the genre in the Victorian era. Hume returned to England in 1888 and went on to produce over 100 novels and stories. This work was first published in England in 1897 under the title The Devil-Stick and is reprinted from the American edition of 1898.