Martin Hewitt: Investigator

by Arthur Morrison

Martin Hewitt - Investigator is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1894. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Classics, Short Stories, Audiobook, Collections, Crime

232 pages, Paperback

First published March 16, 1894

About the author

Arthur George Morrison (1863-1945) was an English author and journalist, known for his realistic novels about London's East End and for his detective stories. In 1890, he left his job as a clerk at the People's Palace and joined the editorial staff of the Evening Globe newspaper. The following year, he published a story titled "A Street", which was subsequently published in book form in Tales of Mean Streets (1894). Around this time, Morrison was also producing detective short stories which emulated those of Conan Doyle about Sherlock Holmes. Three volumes of Martin Hewitt stories were published before the publication of the novel for which Morrison is most famous: A Child of the Jago (1896). Other less well-received novels and stories followed, until Morrison effectively retired from writing fiction around 1913. Between then and his death, he seems to have concentrated on building his collection of Japanese prints and paintings.

Amongst his other works are Martin Hewitt: Investigator (1894), Zig-Zags at the Zoo (1894), Chronicles of Martin Hewett (1895), Adventures of Martin Hewett (1896), and The Hole in the Wall (1902).

Reviews

[Bill on GR Sabbatical · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although they were pleasant enough to listen to as a free LibriVox audiobook while out walking, I can't really recommend this collection of mild mysteries written in the 1890s to emulate A. Conan Doyle's accounts of Sherlock Holmes, in fact written for some of the same magazines that had published the Holmes stories.

The accounts of jewel heists, stolen documents, and murder borrow heavily from the Holmesian canon, including a Dr. Watson-like assistant/amanuensis and not very bright police, but they struck me as pale shadows of the original, not least because the solution of the crime often involves clues or information not available to the reader.

Time spent with the Holmes stories, for the first time or a return visit, will be better rewarded than with these, unless you're interested in the history of the genre.

[Hal Brodsky · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a historically interesting collection of late Victorian short stories featuring a Sherlock Holmes style sleuth with Holmes's powers of observation and none of his charisma. In fact, the best way to characterize Martin Hewitt's personality is by his not having one. The greatest problem with these stories however is that in each the reader is presented with a connundrum which Hewitt then solves by discovering something off stage and returning to tell the reader about what he discovered and how it solved the crime. In other words, the reader has zero chance of solving any of these mysteries. If you like detective stories and would like a feel for that they were like 20 -30 years after Wilkie Collins invented the genre, download this free (on Amazon) book and read a couple of the stories. No need to finish it, however.

[Robyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Early Bird Book Deal | Whew, the racism! | Common for the late 19th century, lots of use of the n-word, comments about the savagery and stupidity of Haitians, some sneaky anti-Semitism, and really poor written "dialect" of an Irishman. Anyone who has read mysteries from the time period will know what to expect, still gross.

[Ollie Skyba · Rating 2 out of 5]

Будучи давним фанатом жанра, к своему стыду практически не была знакома с произведениями членов английского «Детективного клуба», созданного в 20е прошлого века (ну кроме Агаты Кристи, само собой). Понемногу стала искать произведения «золотого века детектива», и в частности, познакомилась с Артуром Моррисоном (по касательной)…
Что сказать? Классика, которую можно спокойно отложить в пыльный шкаф. Любопытный персонаж - следователь Мартин Хьюитт отдаленно напоминает Шерлока Холмса, но уже совсем не актуален сто лет спустя. Особенно резанул рассказ о «черепаховом деле», где красными чернилами буквально все пропитано бытовым расизмом.
Двоечка/троечка.

[Vivienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Good Collection of Short Stories

The book page gives an excellent overview of Martin Hewitt and how he came to be an investigator, and the introduction by Otto Penzler expands on this. According to Penzler, after the success of Holmes, authors and publishers wanted another detective in the same mould, and, apparently, Arthur Morrison, with his character of Martin Hewitt was the first author in England to exploit the Doyle formula. He operates his own, very successful, detective agency, employing only a clerk on a regular basis, although he does use the occasional casual helper. He has a good relationship with the police and is a very likeable man, who seems to get on well with everybody and anybody. His cases are written up by his good friend, journalist, Mr Brett.

Hewitt is usually called in by private individuals when the police have failed to solve a crime. He doesn’t share any deductions or clues with Brett, the police or the reader, so the conclusions of the cases are all the more amazing for that. In one case he does give Brett a hint about a clue (The Case of Mr Foggatt), but it isn’t really a fair one to either Brett or the reader, as, again, we are not privy to all the information Hewitt has. Hewitt’s theory about clues is that “two trivialities, pointing in the same direction, become, at once, by their mere agreement, no trivialities at all, but enormously important considerations”. In “The Case of the Dixon Torpedo”, a sketch would have been very helpful, although it is easy to draw the plan for yourself.

There are a wide range of cases and some of them have good plots and are very clever. An intriguing story causes some harm to Hewitt’s professional reputation (The Stanway Cameo Mystery), while another one is rather a fun read in a way as well as being quite a neat little mystery (The Loss of Sammy Crockett). At the end of each case, Hewitt always discloses how he came to the conclusions he did, and sometimes, investigating one crime, he comes across another one (The Case of the Dixon Torpedo), which is a story I especially enjoyed. The last story (The Affair of the Tortoise) is rather clever, but does include a pejorative word for a black man.

To sum up: quite a good collection of short stories, very easy to read, with a very likeable protagonist, and some great characters, but not quite as good as the Holmes or the Dr Thorndyke mysteries in my opinion. I liked the book enough that I will probably try another of this author’s books.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written from the pov of friend and journalist Brett
1. The Lenton Croft Robberies - after his successfully part in a probate case clerk Hewitt decides to go independent and he is employed to investigate the robbery of jewellery at Lenton Court
2. The Loss of Sammy Crocket - Where and why has sprint runner disappeared to.
3. The Case of Mr. Foggatt - In the top flat of their residence Brett and Hewitt hear a gunshot. They discover their neighbour dead in a locked room. Hewitt is convinced it is murder but can he prove it and find the guilty party.
4. The Case of the Dixon Torpedo - Drawings of the new Dixon torpedo have gone missing from Dixon’s office. An office which received no visitors and none of the staff had left.
5. The Quinton Jewel Affair - Too much of the dialogue in the vernacular and so lost my interest and skipped the story
6. The Stanway Cameo Mystery - How and why was the First century cameo bought by the Marquis of Sranway stolen.
7. The Affair of the Tortoise - 1878 - When tenant Raneau is discovered murdered, who removed his body and why.
A couple of enjoyable short stories

[Brad McKenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is actually a series of short stories.

Martin Hewitt is like Holmes in that he stresses the power of observation to solve a mystery. He's also like Holmes in that he's a bit of jerk. But for me, he strays too far into the realm of arrogance. Holmes doesn't fault others for missing the clues, Hewitt calls them stupid.

The mysteries weren't all too tough, though I didn't solve all of them. This is another in the series of quick reveals and long explanation before the reader could really put the clues together that were popular in the 1890s. One thing I like about Mr. Morrison's mysteries was the fact that the majority of them didn't focus on murder. I always find it refreshing when an author doesn't kill someone for the sake of the mystery.

This was a very quick read so that if you're into classical mysteries but don't really care for Martin Hewitt, Investigator you'll either be done with him quickly or will be able to stop after a story and not feel if your missing something.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Following the footsteps of Arthur Conan Doyle, many other writers had tried to write stories featuring 'Consulting Detectives'. Several of them had also become rather popular in those days, since Sherlock Holmes had been killed off by his creator. This book contains some of those stories.
They are~
1. The Lenton Croft Robberies
2. The Loss of Sammy Crockett
3. The Case of Mr Foggatt
4 The Case of the Dixon Torpedo
5 The Quinton Jewel Affair
6 The Stanway Cameo Mystery
7 The Affair of the Tortoise
Boring descriptions, totally 'meh' mysteries, and a protagonist devoid of all charm— these characterise the seven stories in this collection. But purely from historical point of view, they present a few points of interest to studdents of crime fiction. That's all.

[L · Rating 3 out of 5]

Arthur Morrison is a contemporary of Arthur Conan Doyle and also wrote detective stories. Morrison's fictional detective, Martin Hewitt, is brilliant detective with a "normal" personality, compared to the quirky super-genius Holmes.

The stories are well written with the usual detective story tropes - a sidekick narrator, baffled police, all the clues (with some misdirection) within the narrative, the announcement followed by the detective explaining his brilliance.

There is some racism, especially in the last story. Not to excuse it, but prejudice is common in old stories: this book first published in 1894.

[Pat · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Actually, read in the gutenberg transcription, which has few typos.) This book was 3 stars until "The Affair of the Tortoise," which is so racist it dropped the whole book to two stars. Little snack-sized mysteries solved by the observant Martin Hewitt, who always figures things out. Unfortunately, Morrison likes to approximate dialect, which makes "The Quinton Jewel Affair" unreadable, since about a third of it is told by a comic-opera Irishman and Morrison does dialect extremely badly.

Mysteries: not bad. Characters: oh, good grief, no.

[Clyde Tosalini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat like the Sherlock Holmes stories, but less interesting. The Sidney Paget illustrations were a joy to see.

Racial epithets, when uttered by the murderer or other bad guy, make the reader despise that character all the more. But, when uttered by the main character (Hewitt) or policemen, as they are in the last story, it is not acceptable. Combined with the solution partially hinging on the "adamantine thickness of the negro skull", apparently a well-known "fact" in the 1800s, it leaves the reader speechless.

[Jeremy Hollingshead · Rating 2 out of 5]

While not poorly written or paced this is without doubt the most boring set of mysteries I have ever read. There is no character development and the narratives, while not written poorly, are dull beyond belief. If interested in reading mysteries from this time period one might look to Louis Tracy instead.

[Naticia · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of interesting detective fiction stories. I was enjoying this more until the last story, "The Affair of the Tortoise", which had so much excess racism and colonialism that I was really put off. I suggest skipping it.

I also feel like I've come across a few of the other stories in other collections, or the stories just felt so similar to other detective fiction that I've read that they seemed familiar.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this up till the last story. I'd recommend skipping that.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this on Librivox. The story The Dixon Torpedo is included in The American Rivals of Sherlock Holmes also on Librivox, a favorite collection of mystery stories.

[H Jesseman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, but not as good as Conan Doyle.

[Paul Cowdell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read on the Gutenberg Kindle download. Moderately diverting (despite some staggering Victorian racism), but they just feel rather too dated and not inspiring enough.

[J Grimsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not riveting but worth a read.

[April Norris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read, but not as good as Sherlock Holmes.

[Mark Rabideau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Librivox Edition: A very enjoyable anthology of mysteries. Excellent narration.

[Kelvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book comprises of a series of short stories of the cases of private investigator Martin Hewitt. It is a copy cat of Sherlock Holmes. The plots are not bad. However, the writings are not as smooth and crisp as those of Sir Arthur Conon Doyle.

[Gypsi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martin Hewitt, Investigator is a series of short stories linked by the protagonist, Martin Hewitt, and written down by a good friend, the journalist Brett. The similarities to Doyle's Holmes are striking and most likely intentional. Doyle had killed off Holmes in 1893 and other writers were looking to fill that void.

Unlike Holmes, however, Martin Hewitt runs an investigative business, is a very personable gentleman, works well with the police force and easily makes friends. Add to this his ingenious ability for disguise and fluidity in thieves cant and in Mr. Hewitt you have an investigator that is able to blend in anywhere and solve the most intriguing of crimes.

In Martin Hewitt, Investigator, Brett gives the details of several of Hewitt's most renowned cases, many of which he was intimately involved with as well. They are tales of impossible to solve crimes that Hewitt was able to crack by piecing together a few clues (a burnt out match, raindrops on a hat, un-capitalized letters in a note) where the police detectives had failed.

While the solutions to these various crimes and mysteries do fit together well with the evidence and clues, the reader is not privy to all the information that Hewitt is (as he doesn't share it with Brett). Hewitt then chides Brett (or the police) for not having seen such and such clue and then builds his entire case on that missed bit of information. Morrison uses this ploy to make the solving seem even more spectacular, but this style patronizes the reader and is not a fully satisfying reading experience.

[Vultural · Rating 3 out of 5]

Morrison, Arthur - Martin Hewitt: Investigator

Hewitt was an ex lawyer turned detective in late Victorian / early Edwardian London.
His character has appeared in several "rivals of Sherlock Holmes" anthologies.
This was a collection of short mysteries.
Florid writing, to be expected of that period.
Only gripe was after every solution, there was another 5-10 pages of explanation which often left me dozing.
This edition was to be the first of four Hewitt collections, but the publisher, Oswald Train, went under soon after this one.
Good armchair read if Victorian crime is to your taste.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm gradually watching my way through the TV series "Rivals of Sherlock Holmes". Since all the stories are in the public domain, many have also been made into ebooks by Gutenberg or Google. I'm finding many enjoyable reads. Sad to say, Martin Hewett is not the best of the Victorian detectives. The puzzles are good, but characterization is lacking. The TV episodes have expanded upon the original stories and are actually much better. Still, Arthur Morrison has provided us with some pleasant reading, and I plan to read more of his books.

[Sem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite a 4 star read but as it's better than Chronicles - though not as good as The Red Triangle - and there's no half star I'll give it four. I'd have no hesitation whatsoever if Morrison hadn't been so partial to exposition and obsessed with the evils of Haiti. But those are mere trifles.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an accidental re-read. No wonder I could figure out the solutions so well!

(Original review below.)

A Sherlock knock-off. Not bad for what it is, but time would be better spent with Sherlock.

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

*The Lenton Croft robberies--
The loss of Sammy Crockett--2
*The case of Mr. Foggatt--
*The case of the Dixon torpedo--
The Quinton jewel affair--
*The Stanway cameo mystery--
The affair of the tortoise--

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several short stories. This is classic late Victorian private detective sleuthery.

[Elizabeth]

So, Martin Hewitt is not Sherlock Holmes, but this was still quite entertaining.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A classic set of gentle mystery stories, ranging from murder to stolen jewels. A couple of jarring uses of the n-word (oh 1896, I thought I knew thee), but overall really lovely.