The Man Who Knew Too Much

By: G. K. Chesterton

Narrated by: Harold Wiederman

Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Gilbert Keith (G.K.) Chesterton (1874-1936) was an English literary and social critic, historian, playwright, poet, Catholic theologian, debater, mystery writer, and foremost, a novelist. Among the primary achievements of Chesterton's extensive writing career are the wide range of subjects written about, the large number of genres employed, and the sheer volume of publications produced. He wrote several plays, around 80 books, several hundred poems, some 200 short stories and 4,000 essays. Chesterton's writings without fail displayed wit and a sense of humor by incorporating paradox, yet still making serious comments on the world, government, politics, economics, theology, philosophy and many other topics. His talent as a mystery writer is displayed in his collection of detective stories, The Man Who Knew Too Much. In each story, the star detective, Horne Fisher, deals with another strange mystery: the vanishing of a priceless coin, the framing of an Irish "prince" freedom fighter, an eccentric rich man dies during an obsessive fishing trip, another vanishing during an ice skate, a statue crushing his own uncle, and a few more.

Includes "The Face in the Targe", "The Vanishing Prince", "The Soul of the Schoolboy", "The Bottomless Well", "The Fad of the Fisherman", "The Hole in the Wall", "The Temple of Silence", and "The Vengeance of the Statue".

Public Domain (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Mysterious

There are eight short stories that can be read independently. In all stories the villain gets away. The protagonist Horne Fisher, likes to speak in riddles which can be confusing to the reader. Some of the endings were confusing to me. I liked the style of writing and the characterizations. There is a bit of anti-Semitism in one of the stories.

Old but good.

If you’ve listened to books by G. K. Chesterton before, how does this one compare?

Never listened to any of G K Chesterton before, this was my first.

Which character – as performed by Harold Wiederman – was your favorite?

The title character was most interesting.

Creative but hard to follow

Well-read but the text was disengaging. I use that word to illustrate. Too many awkwardly placed adjectives made following the story diffucult. I am a William Faulkner fan but would not try in an audio book. Chesterton was only slightly less difficult.

Keeps your excitement

Enjoyed the audible version. Listened while doing my daily walks. Enjoyed the mini stories that linked the characters.

no idea where some of my audible reviews went

audible reviews, quite a few, missing, but remember this book, a little odd but enjoyable

Such an irritating narrator

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Wow, this reader is horrible. He has a pedantic, fussy way of speaking that makes him so irritating to listen to. Most of the characters sound the same. The book itself is a little old-fashioned. The stories are not very compelling, but I did want to see how they ended. It was the characters I didn't like. And there was quite a bit of racism there too. Just skip this one. At least it was free!

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No

An enjoyable listen well worth your time!

A well narrated version of this classic tale. The protagonist being an overly intelligent and knowledgeable man who solves crimes but analyzation and deduction. If you like this kind of mystery and a good who done it, you'll enjoy this book. Written in a form as was common before our time but narrated in such a way as to make it easily understandable.

I was given a free review copy of this audiobook in exchange for my unbiased review.

The Prince who Knows Paradox Too Well

A collection of Chesterton detective stories revolving around Horne Fisher and his companion, political journalist Harold March. These stories have a lot of the same late Victorian/Edwardian flavor of Sherlock Holmes and Chesterton's own Father Brown stories. The reluctant, and moral protagonist of The Man Who Knew Too Much, however, is often forced by greater-good circumstance or a need to protect the best interests of England from revealing the killer or the culprit.

The strengths of these stories revolves around the clever paradoxes that the Chesterton (the dark prince of paradox) knows too well. The weakness of these stories (and the reason I gave them 3 stars and not 4 stars) is the unsubtle antisemitism that pops up in a couple of them (especially 'the Bottomless Well').

Stories include:

"The Face in the Target"
"The Vanishing Prince"
"The Soul of the Schoolboy"
"The Bottomless Well"
"The Hole in the Wall"
"The Fad of the Fisherman"
"The Fool of the Family"
"The Vengeance of the Statue"

Will.listen again

Narrative and narrator kept me engaged but the story is both rich obscure. Shall revisit.

Incredible

This is a masterpiece of literature. So much depth and meaning but you don’t have to understand it all in order to enjoy it. It is fascinating.