Dictionary.net

A New Zealand novelist. He was educated for the law, and was articled in the office of Sir Robert Stout, the well-known New Zealand statesman. His first long work, "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab", was published in Melbourne, and later in London, achieving a phenomenal circulation. Since the success of his first novel the author has devoted himself to literature in London. His most popular publications are. "The Piccadilly Puzzle" (1889); "Miss Mephistopheles" (1890); "A Creature of Night" (1891); "An Island of Fantasy" (1894); "The Turnpike House" (1902).