A fan of G. K. Chesterton, I picked up The Man Who Knew Too Much in an attempt to expand my reading of his work. Although the story was far choppier than, say, The Man Who Was Thursday, his prose remained as delicious as always. Read it as a collection of short stories with a common theme rather than as a unified novel, and you'll be happier in its progression than I was at first.

Irish Gothic...remember...

Overall, this was an enjoyable book. Fisher, while not a charming man, is an interesting character. He has insight into how things really work, is a pessimist but at heart is still a member of the aristocracy. The crimes are common, murder, theft, but the solutions are truly quite clever.

Some of the plots don't make for very good mysteries and the narrative is a bit grandiois in a Dickens sort of way. I really didn't enjoy this at all.

Chesterton is an amazing storyteller, who is able to embody both the spirit of the British aristocracy, along with a critique of that system. I listen to the audiobook, and I really didn’t like the reader, but the stories kept me hooked.

2 1/2 stars, really. Disappointingly dull stories from such a good premise...

Fascinating and enjoyable short stories

Salía de una lectura más ligera por eso me costó un poco meterme en esta. Los relatos de éste libro se conectan a través de un par de personajes, de alguna forma el título nos hace creer que es otro tipo de libro, pero leyéndolo uno termina entendiendo de qué va. Sólo si gustas de un estilo detectivesco a lo "Sherlock" te diría que le des una oportunidad. Chesterton es previo Conan Doyle, lo apropiado sería decir que Holmes deriva de el estilo de Chesterton.

G.K. Chesterton creó en ocho cuentos un personaje memorable, digno estudiante de Sherlock Holmes, sólo que el personaje, Horne Fisher, pareciera que sus deducciones las hace naturalmente, sin indagar, sólo porque lo sabe.

These weren't really mysteries: you just saw events and then had the man explain it to you. Enjoyable none the less.