Max Carrados is a fictional blind detective in a series of mystery stories and books by

Ernest Bramah Ernest Bramah (20 March 186823 June 1942), the pseudonym of Ernest Brammah Smith, was an English author. He published 21 books and numerous short stories and features. His humorous works were often ranked with Jerome K. Jerome and W. W. Jacobs, ...

, first published in 1914.

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

wrote that, together with those of Doyle and R. Austin Freeman, ''Max Carrados'' and ''The Eyes of Max Carrados'' "are the only detective stories since Poe that are worth re-reading."

Characters

The characters and identities of Max Carrados and his usual accomplice Mr Carlyle are explained in the first story, "The Coin of Dionysius". Mr Carlyle is a

private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI; also known as a private detective, an inquiry agent or informally a wikt:private eye, private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. ...

, running a private inquiry agency concerned mainly with

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

and

defalcation In financial and legal usage, defalcation may involve misappropriation of funds by a person trusted with their charge; also, the act of misappropriation, or an instance thereof. A common example of defalcation would be skimming. The United Sta ...

. He is directed to the home of Wynn Carrados at The Turrets,

Richmond, London Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Commis ...

, for an expert opinion on a

tetradrachm The tetradrachm () was a large silver coin that originated in Ancient Greece. It was nominally equivalent to four drachmae. Over time the tetradrachm effectively became the standard coin of the Antiquity, spreading well beyond the borders of the ...

Dionysius the Elder Dionysius I or Dionysius the Elder ( 432 – 367 BC) was a Greek tyrant of Syracuse, Sicily. He conquered several cities in Sicily and southern Italy, opposed Carthage's influence in Sicily and made Syracuse the most powerful of the Western ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

which he believes may be a

forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally consists of the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific mens rea, intent to wikt:defraud#English, defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be fo ...

substituted into a famous collection in the course of a theft. At their meeting, the blind Carrados immediately recognises Mr Carlyle (from his voice) as his former schoolfriend (at St Michael's), Louis Calling. Carlyle then recognizes him in turn as Max Wynn ("Winning" Wynn). Max explains that he was made financially independent by a rich American cousin who left him a fortune won by doctoring his crop reports, on condition that he adopt the surname Carrados. He was blinded some twelve years before the first story, as a result of a minor incident while out horse-riding with a friend. His friend, who was leading, brushed past a twig which flicked back and caught Max in the eye. From this he was blinded by the illness called

amaurosis Amaurosis (Greek meaning ''darkening'', ''dark'', or ''obscure'') is vision loss or weakness that occurs without an apparent lesion affecting the eye. It may result from either a medical condition or excess acceleration, as in flight. The term is t ...

. Carrados makes use of his remaining senses in such a way that his blindness is often not immediately apparent to others. A wealthy, cultured and urbane man, he is an expert

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist, researcher, and/or well-informed collector of numismatics, numismatics/coins ("of coins"; from Late Latin , genitive of ). Numismatists can include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholar-researchers who use coi ...

with a large private collection of bronzes, and is a specialist in forgeries. Carrados can read print by finger-touch, uses a

typewriter A typewriter is a Machine, mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of Button (control), keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an i ...

and smokes the most desirable and unobtainable

cigars A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binde ...

. He has a trusted (sighted)

manservant A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly de ...

named Parkinson (who is trained to be highly observant but without placing his own interpretations on what he observes) and also a secretary, Mr Greatorex. Carlyle was formerly a solicitor, who was struck off for his supposed involvement with the falsifying of a trust account. After this scandal he changed his name and set up the inquiry agency, which is fronted by an ex-

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

policeman. Carrados enjoys the ''éclat'' of revealing his explanations of mysteries through powers of

perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

, which ought to be at the disposal of any sighted person, but which in his case are heightened in positive compensation for his visual impairment. The problem of the forged coin (his first 'case'), including the names of the collector, the forger and the thief, and the method, is explained to Carlyle without Carrados ever leaving his study. In subsequent cases, however, Carrados is active, adventurous and even intrepid in tracking down his quarry. Given the somewhat unusual idea that a blind man could be a detective, Bramah took pains to compare his hero's achievements to those of real life blind people such as

Nicholas Saunderson Nicholas Saunderson (20 January 1682 – 19 April 1739) was a blind English scientist and mathematician. According to one historian of statistics, he may have been the earliest discoverer of Bayes' theorem. He worked as Lucasian Professor o ...

, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, Blind Jack of Knaresborough the road builder,

John Fielding Sir John Fielding (16 September 1721 – 4 September 1780) was an English magistrate and social reformer of the 18th century. He was the younger half-brother of novelist, playwright and chief magistrate Henry Fielding. Despite being blinded i ...

the Bow Street Magistrate, of whom it was said he could identify 3,000 thieves by their voices, and

Helen Keller Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecturer. Born in West Tuscumbia, Alabama, she lost her sight and her hearing after a bout of illness when ...

Canon

As published in book form, the series comprises: *''Max Carrados'' (Methuen & Co, London 1914)

* The Coin of Dionysius * The Knight's Cross Signal Problem * The Tragedy at Brookbend Cottage * The Clever Mrs. Straithwaite * The Last Exploit of Harry the Actor * The Tilling Shaw Mystery * The Comedy at Fountain Cottage * The Game Played in the Dark

*''The Eyes of Max Carrados'' (Grant Richards, London 1923)

* The Virginiola Fraud * The Disappearance of Marie Severe * The Secret of Dunstan's Tower * The Mystery of the Poisoned Dish of Mushrooms * The Ghost of Massingham Mansions * The Missing Actress Sensation * The Ingenious Mr. Spinola * The Kingsmouth Spy Case * The Eastern Mystery

*''The Specimen Case (Hodder and Stoughton, London 1924)''

* The Bunch of Violets

*''Max Carrados Mysteries'' (Hodder and Stoughton, London 1927)

* The Secret of Headlam Height * The Mystery of the Vanished Petition Crown * The Holloway Flat Tragedy * The Curious Circumstances of the Two Left Shoes * The Ingenious Mind of Mr. Rigby Lacksome * The Crime at the House in Culver Street * The Strange Case of Cyril Bycourt * The Missing Witness Sensation

*''

The Bravo of London ''The Bravo of London'' is a 1934 mystery thriller novel by the British writer Ernest Bramah. It featured his most celebrated character the blind detective Max Carrados who had first appeared in 1914. It was the first and only full-length novel ...

'' (a novel) (Cassell & Co, London 1934) A selection of stories from the earlier volumes were later gathered into ''Best Max Carrados Detective Stories'' (1972).

TV and radio adaptations

Carrados is portrayed by

Robert Stephens Sir Robert Graham Stephens (14 July 193112 November 1995) was an English actor in the early years of Britain's Royal National Theatre. Early life Stephens was born in Shirehampton, Bristol, in 1931, the eldest of three children of shipyard ...

in a 50-minute adaptation of "The Missing Witness Sensation," an episode of the 1971 TV series '' The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes''. In the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

series ''Thriller Playhouse'', Max Carrados is played by

Simon Callow Simon Phillip Hugh Callow (born 15 June 1949) is an English actor. Known as a character actor on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including an Olivier Award and Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for two BAFT ...

Arthur Darvill Thomas Arthur Darvill (born 17 June 1982) is an English actor, composer and musician. He is known for portraying Rory Williams, a companion of the Eleventh Doctor in the television series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2012), as well as Rip Hunter in ' ...

narrated a series of Max Carrados stories for

BBC Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It mostly broadcasts archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes, and is the sister station of Radio 4. It is the pri ...

in 2011. *''The Coin of Dionysius'' *''The Knight's Cross Signal Problem'' *''The Tragedy at Brookbend Cottage'' *''The Last Exploit of Harry the Actor'' *''A Game Played in the Dark'' Max Carrados appeared in three episodes of the

series ''The Rivals'': in the Series Two story "The Game Played in the Dark" (where he was played by Charles Edwards), the Series Three story "The Knight's Cross Signal Problem" and the Season Four episode "The Secret of Dunstan's Tower" (in both of which he was played by

Pip Torrens Philip D'Oyly TorrensThe Cambridge University List of Members up to 31 July 1998, University of Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998, p. 793 (born 2 June 1960) is an English actor. Torrens portrayed courtier Tommy Lascelles in the Netfl ...

). Max Carrados appeared on American radio in the 1942 series called '' Murder Clinic'' from WOR and the Mutual Broadcasting System. A single episode entitled "The Holloway Flat Tragedy" from August 18, 1942, featured British actor Alfred Shirley as the blind detective.

Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...

narrated a series of Max Carrados stories for

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or ru ...

.TheBookseller.com
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* Greene, Hugh. ''The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: Early Detective Stories'' (1970; Penguin 1971): Introduction. * Wilson, Aubrey. ''The Search for Ernest Bramah'' (Creighton and Read 2007)

External links

Max Carrados stories
at

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...

*
Crime and Chinoiserie (Article by David Langford originally published in ''Million'' magazine (crossover issue with ''Interzone 51''), 1991: includes commentary on Max Carrados)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrados, Max Characters of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction Literary characters introduced in 1914 Fictional British detectives Fictional private investigators Fictional blind characters