The Man Who Knew

by Edgar Wallace

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Genres: Mystery, Crime, Detective, Classics, Mystery Thriller

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1918

About the author

Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) was a prolific British crime writer, journalist and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and countless articles in newspapers and journals.

Over 160 films have been made of his novels, more than any other author. In the 1920s, one of Wallace's publishers claimed that a quarter of all books read in England were written by him.

He is most famous today as the co-creator of "King Kong", writing the early screenplay and story for the movie, as well as a short story "King Kong" (1933) credited to him and Draycott Dell. He was known for the J. G. Reeder detective stories, The Four Just Men, the Ringer, and for creating the Green Archer character during his lifetime.

Reviews

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was not well-motivated, I think. I struggled with the first half, but pushed myself through for the sake of the 1918 entry for my mysteries challenge. And then? All of sudden it became *very* interesting. That might be because finally there was a murder. I thought the solution was obvious, but I wanted to see how they solved it. Boy, was I wrong! (Does that sound famliar?)

The Man Who Knew of the title was Saul Arthur Mann. He was small in stature, but had a big thirst to collect facts. In his case, it was facts about people. The person about whom he had a huge amount of facts was the millionaire John Minute. John Minute had made his fortune in Africa, mostly in gold mining. Or so it was said. There were several other characters for the reader to keep track of.

I'm glad to have been able to sample Edgar Wallace. I have read and still have to read so many mysteries I'm not going to promise I'll read another of his. On the other hand ... well, there is always another hand. Because I thought the first half of this one so slow, I'll find only 3 stars here.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Man Who Knew is a novel by Edgar Wallace published in 1918. Wallace spent a lot of his time writing. It seems like he spent all of his time writing to get all the things he wrote not only finished, but published. Wallace wrote crime novels, which are the ones I'm reading my way through, well some of them anyway. He also wrote series of books and short stories; there's the African Sanders of the River series, with names like "Bones", "Bones in London", and "Bones of the River" among others. There's the Four Just Men series, which begins with "The Four Just Men", and a few books later we have "The Three Just Men". I wonder what happened to one of them. And while this is going on the Mr. J. G. Reeder series is also going on right with the others. There's also the Detective Sgt. (Insp.) Elk Series, the Educated Evans series, and the Smity series. But my book doesn't fall into any of these it's all by itself in the crime novels bunch. And on to The Man Who Knew.

I had great fun reading this book. I'm not sure if the effect the book about cancer had on me is still wearing off and any other book seems fun to me, or if it was just fun. Even the silly parts. I'm warning you right now though, I had a look at the other reviews and almost no one but me seemed to like the book. Well, I looked at the stars not at the reviews so I'm not sure what the problem is, but you may not want to take my word for it being a good book.

It begins in a laboratory, which is probably why the name of the chapter is "The Man In The Laboratory". The man is Jasper Cole, the secretary of grumpy, old millionaire John Minute. I'm not sure why, but that seems like a strange name to me and I never got over that feeling. The name Jasper wasn't a good pick for me either since I spent the entire novel having a bad feeling about the guy because that is the name of the guy that I think killed Edwin Drood in Charles Dickens' last, unfinished book. Anyway, Jasper in his spare time likes chemistry, science, that kind of thing, and Mr. Minute allowed him to turn the no longer used billiard room into his own laboratory.

The face of the man sitting at the table watching this unsavory stew was hidden behind a mica and rubber mask, for the fumes which were being given off by the fluid were neither pleasant nor healthy. Save for a shaded light upon the table and the blue glow of the Bunsen lamp, the room was in darkness. Now and again the student would take a glass rod, dip it for an instant into the boiling liquid, and, lifting it, would allow the liquid drop by drop to fall from the rod on to a strip of litmus paper. What he saw was evidently satisfactory, and presently he turned out the Bunsen lamp, walked to the window and opened it, and switched on an electric fan to aid the process of ventilation.

He removed his mask, revealing the face of a good-looking young man, rather pale, with a slight dark mustache and heavy, black, wavy hair. He closed the window, filled his pipe from the well-worn pouch which he took from his pocket, and began to write in a notebook, stopping now and again to consult some authority from the books before him.

In half an hour he had finished this work, had blotted and closed his book, and, pushing back his chair, gave himself up to reverie. They were not pleasant thoughts to judge by his face. He pulled from his inside pocket a leather case and opened it. From this he took a photograph. It was the picture of a girl of sixteen. It was a pretty face, a little sad, but attractive in its very weakness. He looked at it for a long time, shaking his head as at an unpleasant thought.

Ignore the part about the girl, it is a long time until we get to her. Now we get to meet John Minute who has just entered the room, here is what I mean about his grumpiness:

"I'm worried about May sometimes."

Jasper put down his paper.

"Worried! Why?"

"I am worried. Isn't that enough?" growled the other. "I wish you wouldn't ask me a lot of questions, Jasper. You irritate me beyond endurance."



"What's wrong with the bank?"

"There is nothing wrong with the bank, and the knowledge that my dear nephew, Frank Merrill, esquire, is accountant at one of its branches removes any lingering doubt in my mind as to its stability. And I wish to Heaven you'd get out of the habit of asking me 'why' this happens or 'why' I do that."

Jasper lit a cigar before replying:

"The only way you can find things out in this world is by asking questions."

"Well, ask somebody else," boomed John Minute at the door.



A rich man hasn't a very happy time," he went on, speaking half to himself and half to the young man. "I've met all sorts of people in this country and been introduced as John Minute, the millionaire, and do you know what they say as soon as my back is turned?"

Jasper offered no suggestion.

"They say this," John Minute went on, "whether they're young or old, good, bad, or indifferent: 'I wish he'd die and leave me some of his money.'"

Jasper laughed softly.

"You haven't a very good opinion of humanity."

"I have no opinion of humanity," corrected his chief, "and I am going to bed."

See what I mean? That's just a little of his grumpiness, I could possibly have become annoyed with it if he had been around too long, but he wasn't, someone has to be murdered don't they? Of course I suppose it could be Jasper that gets murdered, right from the beginning you can tell that he is one of those people wishing he would get some of the money. Maybe he is the murderer. We also have Frank Merill, Mr. Minute's nephew, he is an accountant at one of the branches of Mr. Minute's banks. I didn't know people owned banks before. And there is May, she was the daughter of a friend of Mr. Minute's. The only friend of Mr. Minute's, and when he died, Mr. Minute took care of her:

"Gwelo Deeps?" he said. "But they are the shares—"

"Yes, yes," said the other testily; "I know. They were quoted at a shilling last week; they are up to two shillings and threepence. I've got five hundred thousand of them; to be exact," he corrected himself, "I've got a million of them, though half of them are not my property. I am almost tempted to sell."

"Perhaps they have found gold," suggested Jasper.

John Minute snorted.

"If there is gold in the Gwelo Deeps there are diamonds on the downs," he said scornfully. "By the way, the other five hundred thousand shares belong to May."

Jasper Cole raised his eyebrows as much in interrogation as in surprise.

John Minute leaned back in his chair and manipulated his gold toothpick.

"May Nuttall's father was the best friend I ever had," he said gruffly. "He lured me into the Gwelo Deeps against my better judgment We sank a bore three thousand feet and found everything except gold."

He gave one of his brief, rumbling chuckles.

"I wish that mine had been a success. Poor old Bill Nuttall! He helped me in some tight places."

"And I think you have done your best for his daughter, sir."

"She's a nice girl," said John Minute, "a dear girl. I'm not taken with girls." He made a wry face. "But May is as honest and as sweet as they make them. She's the sort of girl who looks you in the eye when she talks to you; there's no damned nonsense about May."

Jasper Cole concealed a smile.

Jasper is in love with May, that is no secret. Frank is in love with May, that isn't either. Someone has been stealing money from the bank, Frank works at the bank, Jasper has access to the bank as Mr. Minute's secretary. And then there is the murder, three of them actually, but it's the second one we are concentrating on. It is at the scene of the first murder though we meet "The Man who Knows". He knows everything, at least that's what we are told. Frank, on a walk on May, comes up to the scene and meets Mr. Mann, or the man who knows:

"My uncle is Mr. John Minute," he said, and added, with a faint touch of sarcasm: "You probably know him."

"Oh, yes," said the other readily. "One of the original Rhodesian pioneers who received a concession from Lo Bengula and amassed a large fortune by the sale of gold-mining properties which proved to be of no especial value. He was tried at Salisbury in 1897 with the murder of two Mashona chiefs, and was acquitted. He amassed another fortune in Johannesburg in the boom of '97, and came to this country in 1901, settling on a small estate between Polegate and Eastbourne. He has one nephew, his heir, Frank Merrill, the son of the late Doctor Henry Merrill, who is an accountant in the London and Western Counties Bank. He—"

Frank looked at him in undisguised amazement.

"You know my uncle?"

"Never met him in my life," said the little man brusquely. He took off his silk hat with a sweep.

"I wish you good afternoon," he said, and strode rapidly away.

The uniformed policeman turned a solemn face upon the group.

"Do you know that gentleman?" asked Frank.

The constable smiled.

"Oh, yes, sir; that is Mr. Mann. At the yard we call him 'The Man Who Knows!'"

Oh, I would never have guessed the first murder was related to the second murder, in fact, I forgot about it altogether for a long, long time. There are quite a few people keeping quite a few secrets in this book. Jasper Cole has one or two, Mr. Minute has three, Frank has three or four, and who is Rex Holland anyway? Mr. Holland is always being talked about, especially since it seems like he is always around when the money is disappearing from the bank, but no one has actually seen him, no one important to the story anyway. Then again, perhaps they have. Even the police have secrets in this book. By the time we get to the third murder we know it is related to the first two, and we know who the murderer is, Mr. Holland, but we still haven't figured out who this Mr. Holland is yet. I must say, I had this all wrong. Perhaps it was a bad day for my brain, but I didn't have it figured it out until the last few pages, and I loved being that surprised. I love it when I am wrong at the end, except for that time the killer ended up being a circus bear, that time I wasn't thrilled. That's all I have to say, it's a short book, I read it in one day, then went back and re-read it having a whole different view of things now that I knew who did what. It was fun. Happy reading.

[Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a quite decent mystery from 1918. One of the better early mysteries out there but didn't really get me excited for the mystery. It's not fair to want the same feeling as what Agatha Christie's novels give but a girl can dream of more cozy mysteries in the same feeling!

[Cameron Trost · Rating 2 out of 5]

Edgar Wallace is a bit of a hit-or-miss author for me. This short novel was a miss. I found myself flicking through until it got interesting but it never did.

[Perry Whitford · Rating 2 out of 5]

'The Man Who Knows' is Saul Arthur Mann, a curious little chap with a big library of information on just about everything and everyone that is the envy of Scotland Yard, which he uses to pursue his own hobby for indulging in private investigations.

'Ready-Money Minute' is a ruthless businessman with a shady past of financial speculations in South Africa and Rhodesia. Latterly he has become the victim of fraud and become paranoid, while all those close to him are well aware of how vast his legacy would be if he were bumped off.

The investigative method of Saul Arthur Mann promised to make for an interesting detective story, but this wasn't it. No actual detecting was done, the events merely unfolded around him, slowly at first, then in a hurry and completely implausibly.

There is a delicious irony in the title, which is given a pleasing punch line in the very last sentence of the story, but I couldn't help thinking that the mass of misdirection that lead up to it neither merited the effort nor bore much scrutiny.

The author claimed early on that the story was based on real-life events. I find that hard to believe, but if true then Wallace made a meal of fictionalizing it.

[Rick Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

Major characters:
John Minute, wealthy mining magante
Jasper Cole, his secretary
Frank Merrill, his nephew
May Nuttall, Frank's girlfriend
Saul Arthur Mann, The Man Who Knew
Rex Holland, a mysterious person
Henry Crawley, a.k.a. Smith, a policeman
Constable Wiseman

Locale: England

Synopsis: Wealthy John Minute is home with his secretary, Jasper Cole; an amateur chemist. Jasper is interested in May Nuttall, a local mission worker; but so is Minute's nephew, Frank Merrill.

Meanwhile, a (unnamed) servant on his way to a job interview drops dead on the street. Constable Wiseman is standing over the body when Saul Arthur Mann appears, examines the dead man's pockets, and reels off a litany of facts about the person. Mann is "The Man Who Knows", who "collects facts as some men collect postage stamps". He runs an "information bureau", commonly known as a newspaper clipping service. He is the Google of his time. Similar to a newspaper morgue, news items are clipped and gathered and filed; and information sold to anyone who desires; usually Scotland Yard. Mann introduces a new twist - the news items are filed by number, not name; and only he has the index which reveals which number is used for each person.

After much discussion and positioning regarding wills, inheritances, and which suitor (Cole or Merrill) will get May Nuttall, John Minute is found shot in his home. Circumstantial evidence points to Merrill, who is tried and acquitted on a lack of direct evidence.

Additional intrigues occur. Another servant (Feltham) dies, from inhaling poison. Jasper Cole has been keeping a second house in a sketchy part of town known as Silvers Rents; which has a ladder but nothing to climb to. There is another man masquerading around as "Frank Merrill" who bears an amazing resemblance. There is a quiet mystery woman who is kept under wraps. There is a corrupt cop (Henry Crawley / Smith) who has some hold over her.

Review: An excellent read, with many parallel mysteries all at once. Mann's information bureau is a fascinating look at informational archival pre-internet. Who has the role of the detective? Not Saul Arthur Mann, as you may expect. He ran down facts, but is shocked at the revelation of the murderer. It takes some plodding work by Constable Wiseman and a group denouément to get at the truth, and the complex solutions are worthy of Agatha Christie. This is the best Wallace I have read thus far.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title refers to a kind of savant character who researches and remembers facts about everyone and everything. It's somewhat misleading, though. The "Man who Knew" has completely the wrong end of the stick about what's going on, and even though the story follows his investigations, at the end another character gives the true account of events, which he's investigated offscreen.

Even though the solution is something of a letdown, the journey to it is enjoyable, with lots of clues and red herrings and running hither and yon, ranging as far afield as Switzerland. The core plot involves the murder of a curmudgeonly old man who has made a lot of money by sometimes dubious methods, and an associated bank fraud. The old man's nephew is put on trial for the murder. Weaving in and out of the narrative is Mr. Mann, the Man who Knew.

It's a classic Wallace mystery, and even though the twist ending blindsided and disappointed me, I did enjoy it up to that point.

[Alessia · Rating 4 out of 5]

È il primo libro che leggo di Wallace e mi ha conquistata sin dalle prime pagine, sia per il modo di scrivere che per la storia. Leggerò sicuramente altro di questo autore!

[Old Time Tales · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Man Who Didn't Know

I had a lot of fun with this one. It was a fun little mystery and the expected plot twist was neatly delivered.

[Paul Douglas Lovell · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was Okayyy, I suppose. Maybe I'm getting fussy giving it only 4 stars. Wouldn't really recommend it. Won't remember it.

[Natassia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun whodunnit, though a little all over the place. Not quite as tight as the Agatha Christie variety, to be sure.

[Kirsi Vesterbacka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kuvittelin Wallace paremmaksikin.

[Luca Pelorosso · Rating 2 out of 5]

Non apprezzo lo stile di scrittura dell’autore. In certi punti prende troppo per mano il lettore.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just as many non-sequiturs and loose ends as the other Wallaces I have read, but Mr Reeder is a great character which made this an enjoyable read.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Towards the beginning of the book (it seems like something that would be in an introduction but for some reason I think it was at the beginning of the second chapter and I don't really feel like looking right now) the author made a note about how odd this story was and that it was based on legal documents, letters, May's diary and other such documents, ultimately saying that oftentimes truth is in fact stranger than fictional stories, thus implying that this story had actually happened, etc. etc.

Quite a claim, to say that it is such an odd story, and for much of the novel I thought it was quite overhyped. There is a lot of build-up that doesn't really feel like build up so much as an account of stuff happening. I mean, sure there are some things that happen which are somewhat out of the ordinary, but it hardly feels like it's worth writing a novel about.

Turns out the first half of the story is just introducing the characters and the setting. Then, quite suddenly, things start happening. Rather dramatic things. I won't say what since that would give it away, but suddenly it becomes an interesting story that actually seems to have a plot. Luckily, I guess, I'm the kind of person who is loathe to not finish a book I started so I waded through the whole beginning to get to the actual story.

And then, also quite suddenly, things come to a head, the truth is revealed and the story ends. Unfortunately, this really isn't the kind of story where you can guess the ending before it happens as there are some very major revelations right at the end which aren't mentioned earlier. (Unless I really missed a lot of major points, but I don't think I did; though now I kind of wonder.)

Anyway, to get back to the initial claim, the plot of this book is super contrived. The final explanation at the end of what happened was rather unexpected. Well, at least I didn't expect it. So in that sense, the story was interesting. The writing itself wasn't particularly engaging; I feel like another author might have been able to tell the same plot better. Even in the second half of the book where things were happening I found myself losing interest at times.

Apparently Edgar Wallace wrote a lot of such crime and mystery novels; unfortunately, this one didn't make me want to read others by him. I wouldn't say it was terrible; just not my preference to read.

[Fiona · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Man Who Knew is a classic one by Edgar Wallace, so I was excited to read it. Unfortunately I was a bit disappointed.
I liked the idea of the Character of the "Man who knows" but he could have been a little more mysterious. Plus it turned out, he actually didn't know that much.
Also I was a bit confused at the beginning about the characters, but that's not unlikely for me when I read a Edgar Wallace story. What I liked was the plot twist, I hadn't expected that conclusion. But the ending then was a bit abrupt and unlovingly.
So, I read better things from Mr Wallace. But in the end it was a nice read for a sunday on the couch

[Mckinley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts strong and leaves one wondering what is happening page to page. Then it gets a little bogged down. He tries to keep the suspense up to the very end which unfortunately leads to an unsatisfactory ending. With so much buildup, the story and characters remain very superficial.

I thought the title was ironic; that the man called the man who knew didn't while the semi-mysterious Cole, knowledgeable right-hand man, did know. Has an almost steampunkish quality.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another nice convoluted story from Wallace, with an ending that could have done with a bit of expansion. A memory expert, murder, an inheritance, bigamy, kidnapping, drugs, corruption and all the usual Wallace ingredients go to make up a story that is pure Edgar Wallace from start to finish.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun; it really kept me guessing. The man who knew is not who you think it is!

[Amber]

A.L. Burt, 1918

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but ended weird. I wonder if he died or just got tired of the story. I'll have to research when I get a minute.

[Roberta · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow! What a stinker!

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great story from Edgar Wallace.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite disappointing! Good guy was bad; the Man Who Knew didn't know.

[Qube · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second half of the book was great - gripping and fast-paced.

[Steven Heywood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Right up to the second-to-last page this was a rattling good yarn

[Dustin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I had my suspicions about who the culprit was but never really new the exact circumstances until they were revealed on the last fee pages

[Paula Calhau Silvestre · Rating 2 out of 5]

O Homem que sabia
Circulo Leitores

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing twist at the end.