CBR-III #2: G.K.Chesterton: The Man Who Knew Too Much

I guess this is a book that is worth some deeper research than just downloading it for free because it sounds vaguely important. And since that's clearly one of those shoulda things that never actually happen, this is going to be a poor excuse for a review.

First of all, it quickly dawned on me that it's actually a collection of short stories. A proper book would have told me that on the sleeve (and I would have promptly put it back), but ebooks are a mysterious entity without sleeves. ("Wait a minute?! Donkeys don't have sleeves! - You KNOW what I mean!")

The stories are connected in that they all feature Horne Fisher, mysterious, tired, well-connected, liberal: The Man Who Knew Too Much. They are all mystery cases on the outside, but political ones, and as such generally with a disappointing, anti-climatical outcome. Fisher knows politics, being related to half the country's political elite. He knows that the big fish will never get caught, that society can't change as long as this knowledge holds true, and that he, despite his knowledge, can not help the country.
The book was written in 1922, and it becomes more socialist over the course of the stories. Horne Fisher, an aristocrat himself, struggles with his privileges when the working classes are so obviously disadvantaged.

Personally, the older I get, the less well I can cope with politics. I only finished the book because I was already halfway through, and because Chesterton's writing is really very, very good. I tried to ignore the unsubtle political views of the main character, although I might have muttered to myself a fair bit (I never even started The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists because I was shouting abuse just reading the sleeve notes. I really am not a conservative, but unsubtle socialist warblings drive me up the wall. I guess I just don't like being hit around the head with moralistic bricks). I think I need a breather now, but I'll be definitely reading more of Chesterton's writing soon.