Fergus Hume - Madame Midas

Hume was born in England, the second son of Dr James Hume. At the age of three his father emigrated with his family to Dunedin, New Zealand. He was admitted to the New Zealand bar in 1885. Shortly after graduation he left for Melbourne, Australia where he obtained a post as a barristers' clerk. He began writing plays, but found it impossible to persuade the managers of the Melbourne theatres to accept or even read them. Hume was a capable writer of mystery stories, and may be looked upon as one of the precursors of the many writers of detective stories whose work was so popular in the twentieth century. (Summary Wikipedia)