8 h 52 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 8 h 52 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A murder, respectable faces, and a fan linked to China: what hides behind the appearance of innocence?
In The Mandarin's Fan, Fergus Hume brings together a murder, a circle of respectable people, and an object that seems to carry a dark meaning. The fan anchors an old-fashioned detective puzzle, where appearances invite trust and hidden secrets give the reader reasons to doubt.
Hume builds his crime fiction through careful clues, false trails, and sudden suspicion. Here, the mystery draws on a social world where families guard their names and scandal threatens what they value. The fan adds fear and fascination to a puzzle that asks for patience rather than a rush to judgment.
What you’ll discover
- An object worth watching Follow a fan linked to China as it anchors the mystery's sense of danger.
- Respectability under suspicion Look past respectable appearances and consider what a guarded reputation might conceal.
- Clues that invite patience Enjoy a careful puzzle built from clues, false trails, and reasons to doubt.
- Fear around a relic Explore the fascination and unease surrounding an object that seems to carry dark meaning.
- Secrets beneath social appearances Enter a world where protecting a family name can make scandal feel especially dangerous.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like Victorian crime stories, old houses with curses, secret marriages, and puzzles in which every guest has something to hide.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A strange offer becomes Rupert's hope
- The fan exposes hidden desires
- A hidden marriage invites danger
- The obvious suspect deserves another look
- The reward and threat share a rule
- An inheritance deepens the danger
- Love stands against the price
- Belief shapes the clues people see
- Objects and motives guide the mystery
Who’s who
- Rupert AinsleighThe last of an old family, he is poor and proud, and hopes to save his ancestral home and protect his wife.
- Olivia RaynerA dark, composed young woman, secretly married to Rupert, who longs for love and refuses to give him up.
- Miss Sophia WharfA cold, stout lady with a mortgage on Royabay, who nurses an old heartbreak and wants to rule her niece.
- Miss Lavinia PewseyMiss Wharf's withered, flattering companion, who watches everyone, carries tales and schemes to get what she wants.
- Clarence BurghMiss Pewsey's nephew, a swaggering adventurer with slang and secrets, who wants Olivia and quick money.
- Major TidmanA stout, boastful old soldier with a fear of Canton and a weakness for easy money, who stays loyal to Rupert.
- Dr. Theophilus ForgeA tall, hawk-faced doctor and Rupert's former guardian, who smokes opium and keeps his own counsel about China.
- Orlando RodgersA sharp, plainspoken detective from London, who distrusts neat answers and wants the killer of Miss Wharf.
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The Mandarin's Fan
by Fergus Hume · 1905
A jade fan with four and a half beads promises wealth or death, and a ruined squire answers the call.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“Until a poor Ainsleigh marries the poor girl he loves,”
In short
A young man sits on his terrace in Essex, watching the last light fall on the abbey ruins his family has held for three hundred years. He is almost penniless, a lender wants his house, and a monk's curse hangs over his name.
The Mandarin's Fan at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 5 min4 h fast, 6 h slow
- Length
- 72,300 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1905by Fergus Hume
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A curse and an advertisement push Rupert onward
Rupert Ainsleigh is the last of an old line, and his house, Royabay, is about to slip away. Mortgages crowd in from every side. Miss Wharf, who hates him, holds the most dangerous one. He asks his neighbor, Major Tidman, for advice over port on the terrace.
The Major scoffs at the family curse. Abbot Raoul left a verse foretelling hardship until a poor Ainsleigh weds his equally poor beloved and sacred ashes yield gold. A blackened square in the abbey, where grass will not grow, seems to prove the tale. Rupert half believes it, and his housekeeper Mrs. Petley believes it entirely.
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Details
- First published
- 1905
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Hume, Fergus. The Mandarin's Fan. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mandarins-fan.
Hume, F. (2026). The mandarin's fan. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mandarins-fan (Original work published 1905)
Hume, Fergus. The Mandarin's Fan. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mandarins-fan.
@book{hume2026mandarins,
author = {Hume, Fergus},
title = {The Mandarin's Fan},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mandarins-fan},
note = {First published 1905}
}
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What is The Mandarin's Fan about?
It follows Rupert Ainsleigh, a poor Essex squire, as he hunts a jade fan that a Chinese mandarin wants back. The fan leads to a murder at a seaside ball, a haunted abbey and a dangerous London den.
Who is Lo-Keong in The Mandarin's Fan?
Lo-Keong is a Chinese nobleman and mandarin who owns the fan, once protected Rupert's father in China, and keeps a private god named Kwang-ho. Rupert learns his story in stages as the book unfolds.
What is the curse of Abbot Raoul?
It is a family prophecy by a monk burned at Royabay. It foretells hardship for the Ainsleigh family until sacred ashes yield gold and an impoverished Ainsleigh weds the equally penniless girl he loves.
The author
Fergus Hume
1859–1932 · English mystery novelist
Fergus Hume (1859–1932) was a British novelist born in England. He grew up in Dunedin, New Zealand, and moved to Melbourne, Australia, in 1885. He published The Mystery of a Hansom Cab in 1886. He returned to England in 1888 and continued writing crime novels, including The Green Mummy.
“Until a poor Ainsleigh marries the poor girl he loves,”
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