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Great Detective Stories
An anthology featuring famous Edgar Allan Poe's The Purloined Letter, Arthur Conan Doyle's The Crooked Man and G.K. Chesterlon's The Man in the Passage.
- GenresFiction
Audio CD
First published January 1, 1999
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About the author
G.K. Chesterton
4,677 books5,865 followersGilbert Keith Chesterton was an English writer, philosopher, lay theologian, and literary and art critic.
He was educated at St. Paul’s, and went to art school at University College London. In 1900, he was asked to contribute a few magazine articles on art criticism, and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote a hundred books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, five plays, five novels, and some two hundred short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest-detective, Father Brown. In spite of his literary accomplishments, he considered himself primarily a journalist. He wrote over 4000 newspaper essays, including 30 years worth of weekly columns for the Illustrated London News, and 13 years of weekly columns for the Daily News. He also edited his own newspaper, G.K.’s Weekly.
Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology.
He was educated at St. Paul’s, and went to art school at University College London. In 1900, he was asked to contribute a few magazine articles on art criticism, and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote a hundred books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, five plays, five novels, and some two hundred short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest-detective, Father Brown. In spite of his literary accomplishments, he considered himself primarily a journalist. He wrote over 4000 newspaper essays, including 30 years worth of weekly columns for the Illustrated London News, and 13 years of weekly columns for the Daily News. He also edited his own newspaper, G.K.’s Weekly.
Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 11, 2011
This is a collection of (only) three stories by old-school thriller writers, namely Edgar Allen Poe, Sit Arthur Conan Doyle and G.K. Chesterton. I'll rate the stories individually.
1). "The Purloined Letter" by Poe (1844) - A letter containing sensitive information is swiped by someone willing to use it against an important person. But where to find it and, more importantly, how to get it back? Four stars (would've been five but there's a section where the narrator does a bit too much meandering for my taste).
2) "The Crooked Man" by Doyle (1893) - Colonel James Barclay is found dead and his wife unconscious in a locked room. Blame seems to lay with the unhappy wife, but Sherlock Holmes has other ideas. Five stars.
3). "The Man in the Passage" by Chesterton (1914) - An actress is murdered and Father Brown knows who did it, or at least who NOT to look for. I'm giving this one only two out of five stars because the ending didn't add anything to the story and it really didn't make much sense.
1). "The Purloined Letter" by Poe (1844) - A letter containing sensitive information is swiped by someone willing to use it against an important person. But where to find it and, more importantly, how to get it back? Four stars (would've been five but there's a section where the narrator does a bit too much meandering for my taste).
2) "The Crooked Man" by Doyle (1893) - Colonel James Barclay is found dead and his wife unconscious in a locked room. Blame seems to lay with the unhappy wife, but Sherlock Holmes has other ideas. Five stars.
3). "The Man in the Passage" by Chesterton (1914) - An actress is murdered and Father Brown knows who did it, or at least who NOT to look for. I'm giving this one only two out of five stars because the ending didn't add anything to the story and it really didn't make much sense.
January 24, 2010
This was an audio book, only short at just two CD's.
It was 3 stories - The purloined letter by Edgar Allan Poe, The crooked man - a Sherlock Holmes mystery - by Arthur Conan Doyle and The man in the passage by G.K. Chesterton.
A very mixed bag, and not helped by the fact that the narrator was David Case - whose voice was so gravelly that you felt you had to cough for him every two seconds.
The purloined letter was deadly boring. The Crooked man was very good and The man in the passage started off boring but had a good ending. I could have rated a 1 star for the worst, to a three star for the best.
It was 3 stories - The purloined letter by Edgar Allan Poe, The crooked man - a Sherlock Holmes mystery - by Arthur Conan Doyle and The man in the passage by G.K. Chesterton.
A very mixed bag, and not helped by the fact that the narrator was David Case - whose voice was so gravelly that you felt you had to cough for him every two seconds.
The purloined letter was deadly boring. The Crooked man was very good and The man in the passage started off boring but had a good ending. I could have rated a 1 star for the worst, to a three star for the best.
October 20, 2009
Several short stories that are nice and quick.
March 24, 2017
The endings were abrupt and I know I've read better stories.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews