The Man Who Knew Too Much

G.K. Chesterton, creator of the Father Brown mysteries, essayist, and author of religious commentaries, wrote this mystery in 1922. It's a series of eight tangentially interconnected mysteries featuring Horne Fisher, a high-level bureaucrat who uses his inside knowledge and deductive reasoning to solve murders involving the political elite. Derek Perkins narrates these short stories, rendering perfectly the reserved, confident voices of English aristocrats. The mysteries, set in a mythical prewar England, are narrated subtly and unemotionally--Perkins's tone is reserved, his words clearly enunciated. Regrettably, the stories show their age. But the audiobook's strengths include Chesterton's elegant prose and clever similes as well as Perkins's beautiful baritone voice. D.L.G. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine