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The Man Who Knew Too Much and Other Stories

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The Man Who Knew Too Much and Other Stories

By: G. K. Chesterton
Narrated by: Alan Munro
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About this listen

Eight adventures in this classic British mystery series featuring Horne Fisher and his trusted friend Harold March. Horne is a natural sleuth, but his inquiries develop moral consequences. Notable for their wit and sense of wonder, these tales offer an evocative portrait of upper crust English society before World War One. Contains eight stories: "The Face in the Target", "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)2017 Trout Lake Media Anthologies & Short Stories Mystery Fiction
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I had never come across these stories before and was intrigued. However as they progress the narration gets more annoying.

Let down by the naration

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What did you like best about The Man Who Knew Too Much and Other Stories? What did you like least?

These intricate little detective stories published in 1922 are a window into another world, before the fall of the British Empire written by a man at once sceptical and very much part of it. Some of it makes one wince at the casual racism but it is very much of its era and it's hard to find an author from then that doesn't share that fault.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Man Who Knew Too Much and Other Stories?

In the Hole in the Wall he writes, I paraphrase, "we live in at time when people believe anything without evidence and accept nothing from authority" which made me think not much has changed.

Would you be willing to try another one of Alan Munro’s performances?

Absolutely not! Leaving aside the curious choice of an American to read quintessentially English stories, he has the reading style of William Shatner. There's inappropriate emphasis on random words, sudden pauses mid-phrase and then sentences that run into each other, it made following the quite detailed stories very difficult. Before I checked I thought it might be a particularly bad text reader.

Was The Man Who Knew Too Much and Other Stories worth the listening time?

Yes, despite the reader. I wouldn't spend more than a couple of quid on it though, it's not worth a token.

William Shatner reads...

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These are great stories by a well loved author totally ruined by an dreadful reading. I was unable to complete the book due to the incomprehensible reading. The stresses are constantly wrong on each sentence, he ignores punctuation so stops in the wrong place making the whole meaning of what was written confused and messy. Accents and voices all over the place. Do not waste your money on this book.

Great stories ruined by the reader

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Like many I felt the reading was woeful: pauses in the wrong place, stresses on the wrong word/syllable and using an American narrator when the stories are quintessentially English was perverse. However, all that did not offend me sufficiently to stop listening and I got used to it enough to finish the book. It was an interesting take on life, class and politics (and anti-jewish prejudice) in the early 20th century.

Decent period yarns badly read

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Totally incomprehensible because of poorly emphasised reading. Reader has wonderful tone, but no text understanding.

Love CJK as a rule, but...

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