In the book'The Man Who Knew Too Much' Horne Fisher the eponymous hero is connected and indeed related to many of the high-ranking politicians of his age and thus 'knows too much' about the background of the mysteries in which he becomes embroiled and which he unravels. Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was an influential and prolific English writer of the early 20th century. He was a journalist, a poet and a novelist. He wrote 80 books and 200 short stories in addition to his other work.
The Man Who Knew Too Much is a collection of short stories revolving around... well, the man who knew too much, Horne Fisher. The stories are short murder mysteries in which Mr. Fisher figures out what has happened. The murders are all of a political nature, and much of the time Horne comes to the solution by knowing more than he would like to know about many things, including the many shady aspects of British politics and politicians. Much of the time the true nature of the crime has to be concealed from the public, for the good of themselves and the country they live in. The short stories themselves aren't exceptional, but serve as platforms used by G. K. Chesterton to express thoughts, opinions, and general musings about society, politicians, "the greater good", and so on. While I found some of the stories to be very entertaining in their own right, others started feeling a bit like fairy-tales constructed for the sake of the moral they convey. Nevertheless, while I would have liked to be more gripped by the stories, the many interesting one liners, thoughts, and quotable phrases are, by themselves, reason enough to pick up this book.
