Résumé
Résumé de Max Carrados
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
For readers who love short, clever mysteries, Edwardian London, and detectives who solve cases by reasoning rather than chases.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
Max Carrados is a book of eight detective stories by Ernest Bramah, published in 1914. It brings together the first cases of a detective who cannot see. Max Carrados is a rich, calm, well-read man who lost his sight as a young man. He does not let that stop him from solving crimes that baffle people with perfect eyes.
Bramah wrote the stories in the years when Sherlock Holmes had made the clever amateur famous, and he gave the form a fresh turn. His hero does not look through a lens. He listens, touches, smells and thinks. Each case asks a plain question: what do the rest of us fail to notice because we rely on our eyes? In this summary you will meet the detective and his friend, hear how the stories work, see what kinds of puzzles they pose, and learn why the book still rewards a careful reader. We begin with the man himself and the world he lives in.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A blind man with sharper sensesFree
- 2Carlyle brings the cases to him
- 3Ordinary crimes in Edwardian England
- 4Ghosts, games and dark rooms
- 5Cleverness, wit and the human touch
- 6What the book teaches about seeing
Point clé 1 sur 6
A blind man with sharper senses
The first thing to know about Max Carrados is that the stories never treat his blindness as a tragedy to be pitied. He is wealthy, comfortable and sure of himself. He lives at a house called The Turrets, near Richmond, and is looked after by a devoted manservant named Parkinson. He loves his books, his collections and his work.
Bramah gives him a trained skill set rather than magic. Carrados has spent years sharpening hearing, touch and smell, and he reads a printed page by running his fingertips over it. He can tell a good deal from the sound of a step, the feel of a coin or the scent in a room. The stories present all this as practice and attention, and the reader is asked to believe it because the details are specific.
There is also a gentle humor in how other people react to him. Strangers lower their voices or hold out a hand to guide him, and then find that he has noticed more than they have. Bramah uses these small moments to show the point of the whole book. Sight is only one way of knowing a thing, and people who lean on it too hard often miss what is plain.
This opening picture of the man sets the terms for everything that follows. When he takes a case, you are never asked to wonder whether a blind man can do it. You are asked to watch how he does.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Max Carrados
- Max Carrados is a wealthy blind gentleman who solves puzzling crimes brought to him by his friend Louis Carlyle.
- Louis Carlyle
- Louis Carlyle is a practical private inquiry agent who brings difficult cases to his friend Carrados.
- Parkinson
- Parkinson is Carrados's loyal manservant, caring for his household at The Turrets and helping with daily life.
- The clients
- The clients are ordinary people who turn to Carrados with troubling puzzles, fears and secrets they cannot resolve alone.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 70,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 4 h 40 min
- Listening time7 h 45 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 12 other languages
Questions about Max Carrados
What is Max Carrados about?
It is a collection of eight detective stories about Max Carrados, a wealthy blind man who solves crimes using hearing, touch, smell and reasoning. His friend Louis Carlyle, a private agent, brings him most of the cases.
Who is Max Carrados?
Max Carrados is the blind detective at the center of Ernest Bramah's stories. He is rich, educated and calm, lives near Richmond, and uses highly trained senses and sharp logic to solve puzzles.
When was Max Carrados written?
The book was published in 1914, in the Edwardian period, when the detective story was very popular. The cases are fictional but are set in realistic English homes, railways and theaters of that time.
Who is Louis Carlyle in the Max Carrados stories?
Louis Carlyle is a private inquiry agent and an old friend of Carrados. He brings the problems to The Turrets, supplies the facts and often leaves the final insight to his friend.
Is Max Carrados worth reading today?
Yes, if you like short, fair-play mysteries. The stories are compact, witty and well made, and they treat a blind detective with respect. It is easy to follow.