7 h 43 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 43 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the best person to uncover a hidden truth is the one who cannot see?
Max Carrados is wealthy, well-read and calm in the face of puzzles that defeat people with perfect eyesight. In Ernest Bramah's eight detective stories, he listens, touches, smells and reasons his way toward the truth. His old friend Louis Carlyle, a private inquiry agent, brings baffling cases to his door, with clients who need answers they cannot find alone.
The mysteries lead through the everyday world of Edwardian England: houses, railways, theaters and rented flats, where respectable people have something to hide. In The Game Played in the Dark, darkness gives Carrados no disadvantage at all. Across the collection, the question is not simply who commits a crime, but what others overlook when they trust their eyes.
What you’ll discover
- A detective worth knowing Meet a confident gentleman whose warmth and dry humor make clever reasoning a pleasure.
- Clues beyond the visible Follow hearing, touch and smell toward answers that eyesight alone cannot supply.
- Secrets behind respectable doors Explore familiar places where ordinary people bring fears, puzzles and hidden troubles.
- A friendship built on puzzles Watch Carlyle bring difficult cases to an old friend with a different approach.
- A fresh way to notice Discover the idea beneath the mysteries: perception means more than the ability to see.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy clever puzzles, gentle humour and a hero who thinks his way out of danger. It suits fans of Sherlock Holmes who like fresh methods and warm friendships.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A blind collector reads a coin by touch
- Two honest men can both be right
- Small odd details expose a patient scheme
- Nine hours is enough for a pearl mystery
- Trust in a strong building breeds carelessness
- A daughter asks him to clear her father
- Odd behaviour next door has a sane purpose
- A lover of rare coins goes alone
- Senses, kindness and friendship drive the cases
Who’s who
- Max CarradosA wealthy, blind amateur detective who solves crimes through touch, hearing, smell and memory, and who enjoys a good puzzle.
- Louis CarlyleA proud private inquiry agent and Carrados's old schoolfellow, who brings him cases he cannot solve himself.
- ParkinsonCarrados's calm manservant, whose sharp eyes and photographic memory serve as his master's sight.
- Inspector BeedelA steady Scotland Yard officer who respects Carrados and looks for the right moment to catch a criminal.
- GreatorexCarrados's young secretary, who reads the papers aloud and learns quickly from his employer.
- Elsie BellmarkCarlyle's cheerful niece, who lives in a small villa at Groat's Heath and faces a money worry she hides from her uncle.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 7 h 43 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Max Carrados in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Max Carrados
by Ernest Bramah · 1914
A blind man holds a doubtful Greek coin and astonishes a detective with what he knows about it.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
A blind man holds a silver coin, runs his fingers over it, and names the criminals behind it. That is how Max Carrados begins in this book by Ernest Bramah, a set of eight detective tales from Edwardian England.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A blind collector reads a coin by touch
The first story sets up the whole book. Louis Carlyle, a private inquiry agent who was once a solicitor, needs to know whether a Greek silver coin of Dionysius from Sicily is real, because an arrest hangs on it. A coin dealer sends him to an amateur named Wynn Carrados, who lives at a house called The Turrets in Richmond.
Carlyle finds an old school friend, now blind from a twig that flicked his eye years before. He advises Carlyle to arrest the parlourmaid Nina Brun and ask the Padua police about her past under the name Helene Brunesi. He also suggests that Lord Seastoke check his collection for other thefts. Then he asks Carlyle to describe Parkinson and lets Parkinson describe Carlyle down to a missing boot button.
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What is Max Carrados about?
It collects eight detective tales about a rich, blind amateur named Max Carrados. With his friend Louis Carlyle and his servant Parkinson, he solves forgeries, railway accidents, thefts and plots in Edwardian England.
Is Max Carrados really blind in the stories?
Yes, he lost his sight after a twig struck his eye years before. Bramah gives him sharpened hearing, touch, smell and memory, and a servant whose eyes he borrows, so his methods feel clever and fair.
Who are Carlyle and Parkinson?
Louis Carlyle is a private inquiry agent and Carrados's old school friend, who brings him cases. Parkinson is his manservant, trained to notice and describe every small detail of people and places.
The author
Ernest Bramah
1868–1942 · English novelist
Ernest Bramah was an English author born in Manchester in 1868. He later lived in London and died in 1942. He wrote fiction featuring Kai Lung and the blind detective Max Carrados. His books include The Wallet of Kai Lung (1900), Max Carrados (1914), and Kai Lung’s Golden Hours (1922).
More by Ernest Bramah
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