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The Man Who Knew Too Much
- Narrated by: Harold Wiederman
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Anthologies & Short Stories
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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".
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What listeners say about The Man Who Knew Too Much
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Darwin8u
- 05-25-13
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"
29 people found this helpful
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- NienBean
- 08-24-17
Harold Wiederman is a fantastic narrator!
What made the experience of listening to The Man Who Knew Too Much the most enjoyable?
Harold Wiederman's narration, and Horne Fischer's languid and comical apparent exasperation of his own knowledge and observation skills.
Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?
Each story Horne Fischer relates to his friend have wonderfully crafted twists and unexpected conclusions. This has been my favorite GK Chesterton book so far.
What about Harold Wiederman’s performance did you like?
Harold Wiederman brings Fischer alive - as if Fischer himself was sitting with me, whilst relating his extraordinary knowledge and stories.I really hope that Mr Wiederman will be narrating more books. He made this book come alive for me, as I am sure will of other author's characters.
3 people found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 09-09-17
Entertaining
I enjoyed the intrigue and the twisting plot. I also like reading various fiction & non-fiction books from the same time period together to get a better feel for the people who lived then and there.
In that sense, this book fit in well with those of CS Lewis that I had just finished.
2 people found this helpful
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- Anders
- 04-14-16
I would recommend this book
Well written and well preformed I enjoyed G.K. Chesterton's less well known story of " The Man Who Knew Too Much". Eight different mysteries with surprising twists and relatable characters, I would encourage any mystery fan or fan of British literature to read this book.
I would like to caution the reader on the author's choice to include profanity in his work. I was disappointed by this which was why I could not give a full five stars to the story.
4 people found this helpful
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- DGJ follower
- 06-16-21
Beautiful prose, a bit outdated
Chestertons beautiful, classic prose and original intellect shines through these stories, even though the social context it reflects on is long gone. This book requires some commitment, but if you like the author, the aesthetics will make up for the outdated stories.
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- Fredonna Walker
- 07-12-20
Not bad.
I didn't like the narration, but the story itself was intriguing. I like that the main character is highly intelligent and cultured, but rather than that making his assessments of a situation infallible, it is the very thing that trips him up the most.
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- P. K. Bellville
- 05-04-20
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.
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- Susan
- 08-07-19
Will.listen again
Narrative and narrator kept me engaged but the story is both rich obscure. Shall revisit.
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- shopaholic727
- 09-17-18
Boring narration
The narration was so boring and unimaginative that I often tuned out the actual story. At some point I decided to stop rewinding and just get through the book, taking in whatever I happened to pay attention to.
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- William A. Ronke
- 08-31-18
Like Holmes with a sprinkle of Antisemitism
The eight stories in this Chesterton work are entertaining enough, but the bits of xenophobia and antisemitism took me by surprise. The protagonist Horne Fisher has a deeply warped conscience, which by itself might not be a problem, except that the author seems to agree with Fisher’s attitudes and opinions.
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- Prime Customer
- 05-02-22
Exquisite
The exquisite quality of the narration does justice to the beauty of the writing.
Each chapter reveals interesting and original storytelling, keeping your interest until the last page.
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- Stephen M Hall
- 05-04-22
Great stories, but very poor accent work.
These are diverting short stories; well written, but very much of their time, and no one could ever accuse them of being politically correct…
As whodunnits, they often rely on revealing important information at the last minute, and often that information is only known by the protagonist. Hmm…
But the real letdown here is the accent work by the narrator. There are several errors, which the director never pulls him up on. I’m guessing the narrator is American, doing the best English accent(s) he can… but “minny” for “many”, “mahn” for “man”… and “potAAHto sacks” for “potato sacks”?
Twice?! Seriously?