Published in 1894, The Hampstead Mystery is an emotional tale of murder, Roman Catholicism and drug addiction. The Academy praised the strong moral of the sub plot, which obscured for them the distinctly unsavoury themes of the main plot. The Graphic was disappointed in the lack of mystery implied by the title. The reader has a ringside seat at the murder scene, so all the dramatic tension arises from how the culprit is discovered and destroyed.