Today I read The Vanishing Prince by G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), one of eight detective stories in his book The Man Who Knew Too Much (1922 by Harper & Bros., New York, US). This political story concerns a strange Irish ‘prince’, with an excellent twist at the end.

The book also includes The Face in the Target, The Soul of the Schoolboy, The Bottomless Well, The Fad of the Fisherman and others. It’s the tragic Horne Fisher who knows too much. He knows that what is printed in the papers is rubbish, and is privy to the secrets and personal lives of the English ruling class, corrupt hypocrites the lot of them!

Each story stands alone, but they do all wrap up together in the final tale. Read the full book for free here (it’s also free on Kindle). Chesterton also wrote poetry, works of literary and social criticism, and fantasy fiction, as well as 200 short stories. His most famous stories are the Father Brown tales. Chesterton studied art at the famous London Slade school and literature at UCL.

Prefer audio? Listen to the whole book below.